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EUBIK. 


Thi 


History  of  Russia 


From   the   Karliest   Times  to    1877 


BY 


ALFRED    RAMBAUD 


TRANSLATED    BY 


LEONORA  B.  LANG 


ilibrarv  coition 

Complete   in   Two   Volumes 
Volume  I 


NEW     YORK: 

Thf.  Pttrt.tshrrs  Plati',  Rent  INC,  Co, 


°^/5T]oo70 
v,/ 


PREFACE. 


This  Translation  of  M.  Alfred  Rambaud's  "Historie  de  la  Rus- 
sie"  (Paris,  1878)  contains  a  number  of  emendations  by  the  Au- 
thor. M.  Rambaud  has  also  written  many  additional  pages  :  on 
Russian  ethnography  ;  on  the  Esthonian  Epic ;  on  the  early  rela- 
tions of  England  and  Russia ;  and  on  the  Emperor  Paul's  project 
of  attacking  England  in  India.  The  Translator  has  to  express  a 
grateful  sense  of  M.  Rambaud's  constant  and  courteous  aid.  In 
whatever  is  hasty  or  inaccurate  in  these  volumes,  he  has  no  share. 
The  Translator  has  compiled  Genealogical  Tables,  of  which  M. 
Rambaud  has  approved.  The  French  book  has  no  index,  and  an 
attempt  has  been  made  to  supply  this  deficiency.  The  Translator 
regrets  that,  by  a  too  close  following  of  the  French  spelling  of  the 
ancient  tribal  names,  new  varieties  have  been  introduced,  where 
variety  was  already  too  plentiful  and  confusing.  There  seem,  for 
example,  to  be  about  thirteen  ways  of  spelling  "  Patzinak."  A  list 
of  some  of  these  names  as  here  printed,  and  of  the  forms  used  by 
Dr.  Latham  ("Russian  and  Turk,"   London,  1878),  is  subjoined: 

Dr.  Latham. 

Tchouvach  -        -        -        Tshuvash. 

Tcheremiss  -        -             Tsherimis. 

Mordvians  .        -        -        Mordvins  (otherwise  Mordwa). 

Tchoud  -   -   -     Tshud. 

Dregovitch  -        -        -        Dragovitsae,  Dregoviczi. 

Polovtsi  -        -        -             Polovcszi. 

latvegues  -        -        -         Yatshvings. 

Pat.-.inaks  -        -        -              Petshinegs. 

Zaporogues     -        -        -         Zaporogs. 


CONTENTS,  VOL.  I. 


THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  RUSSIA. 
CHAPTER  I. 

GEOGRAPHY  OF  RUSSIA. 

Eastern  and  Western  Europe  compared  :  seas,  mountains,  climate  — 
The  four  zones  —  Russian  rivers  and  history  —  Geographical  unity 
of  Russia,  .__.---      13-33 

CHAPTER  II. 

ETHNOGRAPHY  OF  RUSSIA. 

Greek  colonies  and  the  Scythia  of  Herodotus  —  The  Russian  Slavs  of 

Nestor  —  Lithuanian,  Finnish,  and  Turkisli  hordes  in  the  9tli  cent- 

luy  —  Division  of  the  Russians  proper  into  three  branches  —  How 

Russia  was  colonized,  .....  24-87 

CHAPTER  III. 

PRIMITIVE  RUSSIA  :  THE  SLAVS. 
Religion  of  the  Slavs  —  Funeral  rites  —  Domestit;  and  poHtical  cus- 
toms :  the  family,  the  nur  or  commune,  the  uoZo.s^  t  r  canton,  the 
tribe  —  Cities  —  Industry  —  Agricnilture,      -  -  .      38-44 

CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  VARANGIANS  :   FORMATION  OF  RUSSIA  ;   THE   FIRST   EXPEDITIONS 

AGAINST  COXSTANTINOPI-E,   802-972. 

The  Northmen  of  Russia  —  Origin  and  customs  of  the  Varangians  — 

The  first  Russian  princes :  Rurik,  Oleg,  Igor  —  Expeditions  agamst 

Constantinople  • —  Olga  —  Christianity  in  Russia  —  Sviatoslaf  — 

The  Danube  disputed  between  the  Russians  and  Greeks,  45-57 


PRINCELY  RUSSIA. 
CHAPTER  V. 

THE  CLOVIS  AND  CHARLEMAGNE  OF  THE  RUSSIANS  :  SAINT  VLADIMIR 
AND  lAROSLAF  THE  GREAT,   972-1054. 

Vladimir  (972-1015)  —  Conversion  of  the  Russians  —  laroslaf  tlie 
Great  (1010-1054)  —  Union  of  Russia  —  Si)leud()r  of  Kief  —  Varan- 
gian-Russian society  at  the  time  of  laroslaf  —  Progress  of  Chris- 
tianity —  Social,  political,  literary,  and  artistic  results,      -     58-71 


viii.  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  VI. 

RUSSIA  DIVIDED  INTO  PRINCIPALITIES  —  SUPREMACY  AND  FALL  OF 

KIEF,  1054-1169. 
Distribution  of  Russia  into  principalities  —  Unity  in  division  —  The 
successors  of  laroslaf  the  Great  —  Wars  about  the  riglit  of  head- 
ship of  the  royal  family,  and  the  throne  of  Kief  —  Vladimir  Mon- 
omachus  —  Wars  between  the  heirs  of  Vladimir  Monomachus  — 
Fall  of  Kief, 72-«3 

CHAPTER  VII. 

RUSSIA  AFTER  THE  FALL  OF  KIEF  —  POWER  OF  SOUZDAL  AND 
GALLICIA,    1169-1224. 

Andrew  Bogolioubski  of  Souzdal  (1157-1174),  and  the  first  attempt  at 
autocracy  —  George  II.  (1213-1338)  —  Wars  with  Novgorod  —  Bat- 
tle of  Lipetsk  (1316)  —  Foundation  of  Nijni-Novgorod  (1330)  — 
Roman  (1188-1305)  and  his  son  Daniel  (1305-1364,  in  Gallicia,     84-94 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE  RUSSIAN  REPUBLICS  :   NOVGOROD,  PSKOF,  AND  VIATKA,  UP  TO  1334. 

Novgorod  the  Great  —  Her  struggles  with  the  princes  —  Novgorodian 
institutions  —  Commerce  —  National  Church  —  Literature  —  Pskof 
andViatka, 95-106 


THE  INVASIONS  FROM  THE  13th  TO  THE  14th  CENTURY. 

CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  LIVONIAN  KNIGHTS  :   CONQUEST  OF  THE  BALTIC  PROVINCES  BY 

THE  GERMANS. 
Conversion  of  Livonia  —  Rise  of  the  Livonian  knights  :  union  with 
the  Teutonic  knights,        -----  106-111 

CHAPTER  X. 
THE  TATAR  MONGOLS  :  ENSLAVEMENT  OF  RUSSIA. 

Origin  and  manners  of  the  Mongols  —  Battles  of  the  Kalka,  of  Ria- 
zan,  of  Kolomna,  and  of  the  Sit  —  Conquest  of  Russia  —  Alexan- 
der Nevski  —  The  Mongol  yoke  —  Influence  of  the  Tatars  on  the 
Russian  development,  -----      113-139 

CHAPTER  XI. 

THE  LITHUANIANS  :  CONQUEST  OF  WESTERN  RUSSIA  (1340-1430). 
Tlie  Litluianians  —  Conquests  of  Mindvog  (1340-1363),    of  Gedimin 
(1315-1340),  and  of  Olgerd  (1345-1377)  —  JageUon  —  Union  of  Li- 
thuania with  Poland  (1386)  —  The  Grand  Prince  Vitovt  (1393-1430) 
—  Battles  of  the  VorsUa  (1399)  and  of  Tannenberg  (1410),      130-137 


CONTENTS.  ix. 

MUSCOVITE  RUSSIA. 
CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  GRAND  PRINCES  OF  MOSCOAV  :  ORGANIZATION  OF   EASTERN 

RUSSIA    (1303-1462). 

Origin  of  Moscow  —  Daniel  —  George  Danielovitch  (1303-1325)  and 
Ivan  Kalita  (1328-1341)  —  Contest  with  thehouseof  Tver  —  Simeon 
the  Proud  and  Ivan  the  Debonnaire  (1341 — 1359)  —  Dmitri  Dons- 
koi  (1363-1389)  —  Battle  of  Koulikovo  —  Vassili  Dmitrievitch  and 
Vassili  the  BUnd  (1389-1462),       -  -  -  -  138-160 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
IVAN  THE  GREAT,    THE  UNITER  OF  THE  RUSSIAN  LAND  (1462-1505). 

Submission  of  Novgorod  —  Annexation  of  Tver,  Rostof ,  and  laro- 
slavl  —  Wars  with  the  Great  Horde  and  Kazan  —  End  of  the  Tatar 
yoke  —  Wais  with  Lithuania  —  Western  Russia  as  far  as  the  Soja 
reconquered  —  Marriage  with  Sophia  Palaeologus  —  Greeks  and 
Itahans  at  the  Court  of  Moscow,      .  -  -  -      161-174 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

VASSILI  IVANOVITCH  (1505-1533). 

Annexation  of  Pskof ,  Riazan,  and  Novgorod-Severski  —  Wars  with 
Lithuania  —  Acquisition  of  Smolensk  —  Wars  with  the  Tatars  — 
Diplomatic  relations  with  Europe,         ...  175-181 

CHAPTER  XV. 

IVAN  THE  TERRIBLE  (1533-1584). 

Minority  of  Ivan  IV.  —  He  takes  the  title  of  Tzar  (1547)  —  Conquest 
of  Kazan  (1552)  and  of  Astrakhan  (1554)  —  Contests  with  the  Li- 
vonian  Order,  Poland,  the  Tatars,  Sweden,  and  the  Russian  aris- 
tocracy —  The  English  in  Russia  —  Conquest  of  Siberia,       182-208 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

MUSCOVITE  RUSSIA  AND  THE  RENAISSANCE. 

The  Muscovite  government  —  The  kin  and  the  men  of  the  Tzar  — 
The  i^rikazes  —  Rural  classes  —  Citizens  —  Commerce  —  Domestic 
slavery  —  Seclusion  of  women  —  The  Renaissance  :  Literature, 
popular  songs,  and  cathedrals  —  Moscow  in  the  16th  centvury, 

209-230 
CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE  SUCCESSORS  OF  IVAN  THE  TERRIBLE  :   FEODOR  IVANOVITCH  AND 
BORIS  GODOUNOF  (1584-1605). 

Feodor  Ivanovitch  (1584-1598)  —  The  peasant  attached  to  the  glebe 
—  The  patriarchate  —  Boris  Godounof  (1598-1605)  —  Appearance 
of  the  false  Dmitri, 231-241 


X.  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

THE  TIME  OF  THE  TROUBLES  (1605-1613). 

Murder  of  the  false  Dmitri  —  Vassili  Chouiski  —  The  brigand  of 
Touchino  —  Vladislas  of  Poland  —  The  Poles  at  the  Kremlin 
—  National  rising  —  Minme  and  Pojarski  — Election  of  Michael  Ro- 
manof, 242-253 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

THE  ROMANOFS:   MICHAEL  FEODOROVITCH  AND  THE  PATRIARCH 

PHILARETE   (1613-1645). 

Restorative  measures  —  End  of  the  Polish  war  —  Relations  with  Eu- 
rope —  The  States-general,  ....  254-262 

CHAPTER  XX. 

WESTERN  RUSSIA  IN  THE  17TH  CENTURY. 
The  political  union  of  Lublin  (1509),  and  the  religious  Union  (1595)  — 
Complaints  of  White  Russia  —  Risings  in  Little  Russia,         263-271 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

ALEXIS  MIKHAILOVITCH  (1645-1676)   AND  HIS  SON   FEODOR. 

Early  years  of  Alexis  —  Seditions  —  Khmelnitskl  —  Conquest  of 
Smolensk  and  the  Eastern  Ukraine  —  Stenko  Razine  —  Ecclesiasti- 
cal reforms  of  Nicon  —  The  precursors  of  Peter  the  Great  —  Reign 
of  Feodor  Alexievitch  (1676-1582),  -  -  -  272-290 

CHAPTER  XXIL 

PETER  THE  GREAT  ■.  EARLY  YEARS  (1682-1709). 

Regency  of  Sophia  (1682-1689)  —  Peter  I.  —  Expeditions  against 
Azof  (1695-1696)  —  First  journey  to  the  West  (1697)  —  Revolt  and 
destruction  of  the  streltsi  —  Contest  with  the  Cossacks:  revolt  of 
the  Don  (1706);  Mazeppa  (1709),  -  .  -  291-309 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


CHAPTER  I. 

GEOGRAPHY   OF    RUSSIA. 


Eastern   and   Western   Europe    compared :   seas,  mountains,  climate— The 
four  zones — Russian  rivers  and  history— Geograpliical  unity  of  Russia. 


EASTERN    AND    WESTERN    EUROPE    COMPARED  :    SEAS,    MOUNTAINS, 

CLIMATE. 

Europe  may  be  roughly  divided  into  two  unequal  parts.  If  we 
give  4,000,000  square  miles  to  the  whole  of  Europe,  only  1,800,- 
000  belong  to  the  western,  2,200,000  to  the  eastern  part.  The 
former  division  is  shared  between  all  the  monarchies  and  repulv 
lies  of  Europe,  Russia  excepted;  the  latter  is  united  under  the 
Russian  sceptre.  Nature,  not  less  than  policy  or_  religion,  has 
established  a  strong  opposition  between  the  two  regions,  between 
Eastern  and  Western  Europe. 

The  shores  of  the  latter  are  everywhere  broken  up  by  inland 
seas,  pierced  by  deep  gulfs,  jagged  with  peninsulas,  isthmuses, 
capes,  and  promontories;  islands  and  crowded  archipelagos  are 
thickly  sprinkled  along  the  coasts.  Great  Britain  and  the  Greek 
peninsula  particularly,  which  have  a  coast-line  out  of  all  propor- 
tion to  their  area,  contrast  with  the  impenetrable  compact  mass 
of  Eastern  Europe.  This  strongly-marked  outline  of  the  western 
lands  is  the  characteristic  feature  of  European  geography,  while 
the  immense  spaces  of  which  Russia  is  composed  seem  the  con- 
tinuation of  the  plains  and  plateaux  of  Northern  and  Central 
Asia.  No  doubt  Russia  is  washed  by  many  seas  :  in  the  north 
by  the  Icy  Ocean,  which  bites  deep  into  the  country  through  the 
great  fissure  of  the  White  Sea  ;  in  the  south  by  the  Caspian,  the 


1 4  HISTOR  Y  OF  RUSSIA. 

Sea  of  Azof,  and  the  Black  Sea  ;  in  the  north-west  by  the  Baltic 
and  the  gulfs  of  Bothnia,  Finland,  and  Livonia  ;  but,  wiih  all 
these  seas,  it  has  only  a  comparatively  meagre  share  of  sea- 
board. While  the  rest  of  Europe  has  about  15,525  miles  of 
coast,  Russia,  with  a  much  more  considerable  surface,  possesses 
onlv  5514  miles  of  coast;  and  of  this  nearly  half  (2680  miles) 
belongs  to  the  lev  Ocean  and  the  White  Sea.  Now,  these  two 
seas  are  only  navigable  during  a  few  months  of  the  year,  from 
June  to  September,  at  furthest.  The  Baltic,  in  its  two  most 
northern  gulfs,  freezes  easily;  armies  have  been  able  to  cross 
on  the  ice,  with  all  their  artillery  supplies ;  navigation  is  stopped 
from  the  month  of  November  to  the  end  of  April.  The  Caspian 
often  freezes,  especially  in  its  northern  half,  which  includes 
Astrakhan,  its  most  flourishing  port.  The  Sea  of  Azof,  here  and 
there,  is  little  better  than  a  marsh.  It  may  be  said  that,  with  the 
exception  of  the  Euxine,  the  Russian  seas  have  an  anti-European 
character;  they  cannot  be  of  the  same  use  as  our  western  seas. 
From  this  point  of  view  Russia  is  worse  endowed  by  nature  than 
any  other  European  country  ;  compared  with  the  privileged  lands 
of  the  West,  she  might  be  styled  conthiental  Europe,  in  opposition 
to  mari/ivie  Europe. 

Western  Europe,  so  jagged  in  its  contour,  is  no  less  broken 
in  its  surface.  Without  speaking  of  the  vast  central  mass  of  the 
Alps,  there  is  not  one  European  land  which  does  not  possess, 
either  in  its  length  or  breadth,  a  great  mountain  system  forming 
the  scaffolding  or  the  backbone  of  the  country.  England  has 
her  chain  of  the  Peak  and  her  Highlands ;  France  has  her 
Cevennes  and  her  central  support  in  Auvergne ;  Spain  her 
Pyrenees  and  the  Sierras;  Italy  her  Apennines;  Germany  her 
ranges  in  Suabia,  Franconia,  and  the  Hartz ;  Sweden  her  Scan- 
dinavian Alps  ;  the  Greco-Slav  peninsula  has  the  Balkan  and 
Pindus.  What  mountains  Russia  possesses  on  the  other  hand, 
are  banished,  as  it  were,  to  the  extremities  of  her  territory.  She 
is  bounded  on  the  north-west  bv  the  granitic  svstem  of  Finland, 
on  the  south-ea^  by  the  branches  of  the  Carpathians,  to  the 
south  by  the  rocky  plateaux  of  the  Crimea  with  the  Yalia  and 
Tchardyr-Dagh  (5183  feet),  by  the  Caucasus,  extending  over  687 
miles,  where  Elburz  (18,000  feet)  surpasses  by  more  than  2000 
feet  the  highest  mountain  in  Europe,  Mont  Blanc.  To  the  east 
is  the  Oural  range,  the  longest  chain  of  mountains  (1531  miles) 
in  Europe  or  Asia,  running  parallel  to  the  meridians  of  longitude, 
with  peaks  6233  feet  high.  In  the  Tatar  language,  the  word 
Oural  signifies  girdle,  but  it  is  not  only  the  Ourals  which  may  be 
called  the  mountain  girdle  ;  all  the  mountains  of  Russia  deserve 
this  name.  They  bound  her,  they  confine  her,  but  have  only  a 
blight  influence  on  the  configuration  of  her  mterior  and  the  dis- 


HTSTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


15 


tribLition  of  her  waters.  From  the  Carpathians  and  the  Cauca- 
sus only  secondary  rivers  flow,  while  the  four  great  Russian 
streams  take  their  rise  in  hills  not  300  feet  high.*  \\'e  must  ob- 
serve also  that  none  of  these  great  mountains  form  a  seijarate 
system  ;  they  are  nearly  all  fragments  of  systems  belonging  to 
other  countries.  The  empire  of  the  Tzars  is  thus  a  huge  plain, 
which  is  continued  on  the  west  by  the  level  lands  of  Poland  and 
Prussia,  and  on  the  east  by  the  limitless  steppes  of  Siberia  and 
Turkestan,  and  is  in  striking  contrast  with  the  rugged  and  multi- 
form soil  of  the  west.  From  this  point  of  view,  Russia  may  be 
defined  as  the  Europe  of  plains,  in  opposition  to  the  Europe  of 
mountains. 

Uniformity  of  surface  is  never  quite  complete,  and  Russia 
does  present  inequalities  of  soil,  though  these  are  far  less  notable 
than  the  depressions  and  elevations  of  the  ^^'est.  In  the  faintly- 
marked  soil  of  Russia,  we  must  notice,  in  the  centre  of  the 
country,  a  kind  of  square  table-land,  called  the  central  plateau, 
or  the  plateau  of  Alaoune,  from  the  name  of  its  northern  part. 
The  north-eastern  angle  is  formed  by  the  heights  of  the  Valdai 
plateau,  where  the  hills  are  300  feet- high  ;  the  western  side  of 
the  central  plateau  by  the  small  hills  of  the  Dnieper,  which  ex- 
tend as  far  as  the  GrArrrtt-Zx/  the  southern  side  by  the  heights 
which  reach  from  Koursk  to  Saratof ;  the  eastern  side  by  the 
sandy  stretches  which  extend  along  the  right  bank  of  the  Volga 
and  the  Kama  ;  the  northern  side  by  the  undulations  of  the  land 
which  separate  the  basin  of  the  Volga  from  the  rivers  that  drain 
into  the  Icy  Ocean.  The  central  plateau  is  besides  divided  into 
two  unequal  parts  by  the  deep  valleys  of  the  Upper  Volga,  of 
the  Oka,  and  their  tributaries. 

Considerable  depressions  correspond  to  this  swelling  in  the 
centre  of  the  Russian  plateau  : — i.  Between  the  plateau  of  the 
Valdai  and  the  north-east  slope  of  the  Carpathians  lies  a  deep 
valley,  in  which  during  the  quaternary  age  the  Baltic  and  Euxine 
mingled  their  waves.  It  is  traversed  on  the  north  bv  the  southern 
Diina  or  Dwina,  and  the  Niemen  ;  on  the  south  by  the  Dnieper, 
and  its  affluents  ;  it  reaches  its  lowest  level  in  the  wide  marshes 
of  Pinsk.  2.  Between  the  low  rocks  on  the  right  bank  of  the 
Volga  and  the  spurs  of  the  Oural  (obc/ifc/iiisirt),  the  soil  gradu- 
ally sinks  throughout  the  whole  length  of  the  Volga,  and  reaches 
the  level  of  the  sea  at  the  Caspian,  which  is  80  feet  lower  than 
the  Black  Sea  :  here  are  the  steppes  of  Kirghiz,  the  lowest  part 
of  European  Russia,  formerly  the  bed  of  a  great  inland  mere 
which  was  gradually  dried  up,  and  of  which  the  Caspian,  the 
Lake  of  Aral,  and  other  sheets  of  water  are  only  the  remains. 

♦  HOC  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea. 


l6  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

If  the  Caspian  could  only  regain  the  level  of  the  Black  Sea,  a 
large  part  of  this  sterile  plain,  now  covered  with  saline  efflores- 
cence, would  be  inundated  anew.  3.  The  third  great  depression 
of  the  Russian  soil  is  the  slope  of  the  north,  covered  with  lal<es 
and  marshes,  where  the  frozen  toundra  are  lost  amongst  the  ice- 
fields of  the  Polar  Ocean  and  the  White  Sea.  4.  The  region  of 
the  lakes  Saima,  Onega,  Ladoga,  which  is  continued  by  the 
sandy  tracts  of  the  Baltic,  and  which  forms  a  series  of  deep 
cavities,  where  the  waters  of  the  Baltic  and  the  White  Sea  must 
once  have  found  a  meeting-point. 

From  the  fact  that  Russia,  taken  as  a  whole,  is  only  a  vast 
plain,  it  follows  that  her  surface  is  swept  by  Polar  winds,  which 
no  mountain  barrier  keeps  out,  for  the  Oural  chain  runs  in  a 
direction  parallel  to  their  course.  From  the  fact,  again,  that 
Russia  is  only  washed  by  seas,  small  in  proportion  to  the  extent 
of  the  land,  it  results  that  the  temperature  is  modified  neither 
by  sea-breezes,  which  in  the  West  warm  in  winter  and  refresh 
in  summer,  nor  by  the  aerial  and  marine  current  of  the  Gulf 
Stream,  which  finally  expires  on  the  coasts  and  on  the  mountains 
of  Scandinavia,  without  being  able  to  influence  the  shores  of 
the  Baltic.  In  parallel  latitudes  this  Scandinavian  mountain- 
chain  makes  a  notable  difference  between  the  Norwegian  and 
the  Swedish-Russian  climate. 

Russia  then,  like  the  interior  of  Asia,  Africa,  or  Australia, 
has  to  undergo  the  effects  of  a  purely  continental  climate.  The 
first  of  these  effects  is  a  yiolent  contrast  between  the  seasons. 
The  Russian  plain  is  subject  in  turn  to  the  influences  of  Polar 
regions  and  to  those  of  Central  and  Southern  Asia,  of  the  deserts 
of  ice  and  the  deserts  of  burning  sand.  "  Under  the  latitude 
of  Paris  and  of  Venice,"  says  M.  Anatole  Leroy-Beaulieu,  *'  the 
countries  situated  to  the  north  of  the  Black  Sea  and  the  Caspian 
have  the  temperature  of  Stockholm  in  January,  and  the  tempera- 
ture of  Madeira  in  July.  At  Astrakhan,  in  the  latitude  of 
Geneva,  it  is  by  no  means  rare  for  the  temperature  to  vary  from 

'°  fe/or''7°  t°  75  degrees  *  in  a  period  of  six  months.  On  the  coasts  of 
the  Caspian,  in  the   latitude   of  Avignon,  the  cold  descends  to 

2.2.°  F  30°  below  freezing;  in  summer,  on  the  contrary,  the  heat  rises 

^0^°  F  to  upwards  of  40°.  In  the  steppes  of  the  Kirghiz,  in  the  lati- 
tude of  the  centre  of  France,  the  mercury  is  sometimes  frozen 
for  whole  days  ;  while  in  the  summer  the  same  thermometer,  if 
not  carefully  watched,  bursts  in  the  sun.  Near  the  shores  of 
the  Sea  of  Aral  these  extremes  of  temperature  reach  their  ma.\i- 

V-Zfe^l  mum;  there  are  intervals  of  80",  perhaps  of  go"  centigrade, 
between  the  greatest  cold   and   the  greatest  heat."     Even   at 

[•l^'fe  Vj-  Moscow,  they  have  had  cold  of  ^;^°  and  heat  of  28  ";  at  St. 

♦  Centigrade, 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA.  £J 

Petersburg,  the  temperature  may  shift  between  the  extremes  of 

from  30''  to  35**  of  cold  to  31°  of  heat.  -T.z'^-'Jl'Fa^^^^ 

The  second  consequence  of  the  continental  climate  of  'iVF  ^ 
Russia  is  that  the  winds  do  no',  reach  the  country  till  they  have 
lost  on  the  way  part  of  their  humidity.  Russia  suffers  gener- 
ally from  dryness.  At  Kazan  the  rainfall  is  only  half  that  of 
Paris;  it  is  for  this  reason  that  Russia  contains  so  many  barren 
and  unwooded  plains,  while  this  absence  of  forests  all  through 
the  south  is,  in  its  turn,  an  obstacle  to  the  formation  of  hills 
and  springs  and  to  the  development  of  a  healthy  moisture. 

St.  Petersburg,  situated  on  the  Goth  parallel  of  northern 
latitude,  is  tlie  most  northern  capital  of  the  whole  world.  The 
longest  day  in  this  city  lasts  18  hours  45  minutes ;  the  sun  rises 
on  that  day  at  20  minutes  to  three,  and  sets  at  25  minutes  past 
9,  but  the  twilight  is  prolonged  to  the  moment  of  dawn.  For 
two  months  there  is  no  night.  The  shortest  day  is  5  hours  47 
minutes ;  the  sun  rises  at  5  minutes  past  9,  and  sets  at  8  min- 
utes to  3.  The  Aurora  Borealis  is  frequent  in  the  north  of 
Russia,  while  the  mirage  is  often  seen  in  the  steppes  of  the 
south. 

Russia  being  a  country  of  plains,  the  geological  beds  of 
which  the  soil  is  formed  are  nearly  always  horizontal ;  no  raising 
of  the  soil  has  broken  them,  rent  the  beds  of  stone,  and  driven 
the  fragments  through  the  layers  of  mould  or  sand.  It  follows 
that,  except  in  the  neighborhood  of  mountains,  stone  is  very 
scarce  in  Russia.  This  fact  has  had  much  influence  on  the  econo- 
mic and  artistic  development  of  the  country.  The  people  were 
obliged  to  build  with  other  materials  than  in  the  West.  The 
public  buildings  were  everywhere  of  oak  and  pine,  or  of  brick  ; 
the  old  churches,  the  palaces  of  the  Tzars,  the  ramparts  of  the 
towns,  were  of  wood  ;  of  wood  are  the  present  houses  of  the 
citizens,  and  the  is/>as  of  the  peasants.  Russian  villages,  and 
most  of  the  towns,  are  a  collection  of  combustible  materials  : 
hence  the  fires  which  break  out  periodically,  and  justify  the 
saying  that  Russia,  as  a  rule,  was  burned  every  seven  years. 
Ijiiildings  of  such  materials  cannot  assume  the  colossal  propor- 
tions of  the  castles  of  the  Isle  de  France,  or  of  the  Rhenish 
cathedrals  ;  the  old  churches  of  Russia  are  small.  It  is  only 
since  the  conquest  of  the  Baltic  and  the  Black  Sea  that  the  em- 
])ire  has  had  cities  of  stone.  Peter  the  Great  gave  Russia  her 
first  stone  capital.  From  the  geological  point  of  view,  then, 
Russia  may  be  defined,  according  to  the  expression  of  M.  Solo- 
vief,  as  the  Europe  of  woody  in  opposition  to  the  Europe  0/  stone. 


l8  HIS  TOR  Y  OF  K  l/SS/A. 

RUSSIAN   RIVERS   AND   HISTORY. 

In  a  country  so  extensive  and  so  destitute  of  seaboard  as 
Russia,  rivers  have  an  immense  importance,  and  with  rivers 
Eastern  Europe  is  well  endowed.  It  is  her  watercourses  which 
prevent  Russia  from  being  a  continent  closed  and  sealed,  like 
Africa  or  Australia.  In  place  of  arms  of  the  sea,  she  has  great 
rivers  which  penetrate  to  her  centre,  and  have  sometimes  almost 
the  proportions  of  seas.  In  the  level  plains  they  have  not  the 
impetuous  current  of  the  Rhone,  they  flow  peacefully  through 
great  beds  cut  in  the  sand  or  clay.  The  rivers  were  for  a  long 
while  the  only  means  of  communication.  When  the  Russian 
princes  Vv^ished  to  make  a  progress  through  their  dominions,  or 
begin  a  campaign,  they  had  either  to  take  advantage  of  winter, 
which  from  the  Dnieper  to  the  Oural  gave  them  a  flat  surface 
for  their  sledges,  or  await  the  thaw  and  follow  the  course  of  the 
rivers.  Boats  in  summer,  sledges  in  winter,  were  the  only 
means  of  conveyance  ;  in  spring,  the  thaw  and  floods,  which 
transformed  the  plain  into  a  marsh,  brought  the  raspoutitsa  (the 
season  of  bad  roads).  Commerce  followed  the  same  routes  as 
war  or  government.  The  rivers  which,  in  Russia  especially,  are 
"  the  roads  that  run,"  explain  the  rapidity  with  which  we  see 
the  characters  of  Russian  history  traverse  immense  spaces,  and 
go  as  easily  from  Novgorod  to  Kief,  from  Moscow  to  Kazan,  as 
a  French  king  from  his  good  city  of  Paris  to  Rheims  or  Or- 
leans. Tiie  rivers  are  the  allies  of  the  Russians  against  what 
they  call  "  their  great  enemy  " — space.  Russian  conquest  or 
colonization  has  evervwhere  followed  the  course  of  the  waters  ; 
it  was  on  the  banks  of  the  Oka,  the  Kama,  the  Don,  and  the 
Volga,  that  the  Russian  element  of  the  population  chiefly 
gathered,  the  aboriginal  races  everywhere  retreating  into  the 
thickness  of  the  primitive  forests. 

The  plateau  of  Valdai  is  the  dominant  point  in  the  river-sys- 
tem of  Russia.  It  is  near  this  plateau,  in  the  lake  Volgo,  that 
the  Volga,  w'hich  ultimately  falls  into  the  Caspian,  takes  its 
rise.  In  this  neighborhood  also  are  the  sources  of  the  Dnieper 
(flowing  to  the  Black  Sea),  the  Niemen,  the  Dwina,  which  falls 
into  the  Baltic,  the  Velikaia,  a  tributary  of  the  Peipus,  the  rivers 
forming  lake  Ilmen,  and  those  which  feed  the  lakes  Ladoga  and 
Onega,  w'hence  rises  the  Neva.  The  hydrographic  centre  of 
Russia  being  at  the  north-west  angle  of  the  central  plateau,  it 
follows  that  the  slopes  are  turned  to  the  south  and  to  the  east ; 
a  disposition  which  has  had  its  influence  on  the  development  of 
the  national  history.  This  history,  indeed,  begins  in  the  north- 
west, near  the  VaUlai"  plateau  ;  on  the  Peipus  and  the  Ilmen  the 
old  commercial  cities  of  Pskof  and  Novgorod  are  established. 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


J9 


What  is  their  opening  to  the  sea  ?     Not  the  Narova,  which  falls 
out  of  lake  Peipus,  and  of  which  the  course  is  broken  by  cata- 
racts, but  the    network  of   rivers  and  lakes  which  terminates  in 
the  Neva,  the  Thames  of  Russia,  a  river  of  little  length  but  im- 
mense breadth,  on  which  St.  Petersburg,  the  Novgorod  of  the 
i8th   century,  w^as   afterwards  to  be  built.     In  primitive   times 
Novgorod  was  safer  in  the  centre  of  this  network  of  rivers  and 
lakes  than  she  would  have  been  on  the  Neva.     By  the  VoJkhof 
her  vessels  sailed  from   the   Ilmen  to  the  Ladoga,  and  by  the 
Neva  from  the  Ladoga  to  the  Gulf  of  Finland,  and  the  great 
Baltic  Sea.     Other  small  rivers  put  her  in  communication  with 
the  lake  Onega  and  the   White   Lake  (Bie'loe-Ozero) ;  by  the 
Soukhona  and   the  northern  Dwina  she  had  relations  with  the 
White  Sea,  where  later  the  port  of  Arkhangel  arose.     By  the 
tributaries  of  the  Dwina   the    Novgorod   explorers   penetrated 
deep  into  the  northern  forests,  peopled  by  aboriginal  races,  on 
whom  they  imposed  tribute.     The  watersheds  between  the  slope 
to    the  ^Vhite  Sea,  the    basin  of   the  Novgorod  lakes,  and   the 
basin  of  the  Volga,  are  scarcely  marked  at  all.     The  rivers  seem 
to  hesitate  at  their  rise  between  two  opposite  courses  :  some  of 
them  never  make  up  their  minds,  lil<e   the  sluggish  Cheksna 
which  connects  the  White  Sea  and  the  Volga.     This  interlace- 
ment of  the  water-system,  which  makes  the  northern  Dwina,  the 
Neva,  the  Niemcn,  and  the  southern  Dwina  mere  prolongations 
of  the  Volga  and  the  Dnieper,  and  puts  the  four  Russian  seas 
in  unbroken  communication,  is  in  itself  a  sufficient  explanation 
of  the  extent  of  the  conquests  and  great  commercial  position  of 
Novgorod  the  Great. 

On  the  Dnieper,  Russia,  to  rival  the  Russia  of  Novgorod, 
founded  at  a  verv  earlv  date  the  Jioiiss  of  Kief.  She  too  fol- 
lowed  the  line  marked  out  for  her  by  the  course  of  the  Dnieper, 
which  necessarily  led  her  to  the  Black  Sea  and  the  Byzantine 
world. 

It  was  by  the  Dnieper  that  the  fleets  of  war  descended 
against  Constantinople  ;  it  was  by  this  river  too  that  Greek 
civilization  and  Christianity  reached  Kief.  The  Dnieper,  which 
had  made  the  greatness  of  Kief,  hastened  its  decay.  As  a 
medium  of  communication  it  was  imperfect.  Tlie  celebrated 
cataracts  below  Kief  formed  an  uisurmouniable  barrier  to  nav- 
igation, and  consequently  the  city  could  not  remain  the  politi- 
cal and  commercial  capital  of  Russia. 

The  Don,  notwithstanding  its  length  of  621  miles,  has  had 
little  influence  on  the  evolution  of  Russian  history.  During  the 
whole  period  of  the  growth  of  the  nation  it  remained  in  the 
power  of  the  Asiatic  hordes.  In  later  years  it  fell,  with  Azov, 
jnto  the  possession  of  the  Turks.     The  sandy  shallows  near  its 


20  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

mouth  would  in  any  case  have  proved  fatal  to  its  commercial 
importance.  The  Dwina  and  the  Niemen  also  remained  till  the 
1 8th  century  in  the  hands  of  the  native  Finns  and  Lithuanians, 
or  of  the  German  conquerors. 

The    river,    par  excellence,    of   Russia   is  the  Volga  —  the 
"  mother  Volga,"  as  the   popular   singers  call  it.     If  the  Neva, 
with  the  great  lakes  which  feed  it,  may  be  compared  to  the  St. 
Lawrence,  the  Volga  may  be  compared  to  the  Mississippi.  With 
a  length  of  2336  miles,  it  has  a  course  250  leagues  longer  than 
that  of  the  Danube.     Many  of  its  tributaries  may  be  reckoned 
among  the  great  rivers  of  the  world.     The  Oka,  with   its  633 
miles  of  length,  surpasses  the  Meuse  and  the  Oder;  the  Kama, 
1266   miles  long,  outvies  all  other  European  rivers  except  the 
Danube  ;  for  the  Elbe  is  only  643  miles,  the  Loire  681,  and  the 
Rhine  812  in   length.     The  junction  of  the  Volga  and  Oka  at 
Nijni-Novgorod  is  like  the  meeting  of  two  arn)s  of  the  sea  ;  it  is 
an  imposing  spectacle  to  contemplate  from  the  hill  on  which  the 
upper  town  is  built,  while  the  lower  town  or  the  fair,  with  its 
100,000  fluctuating   inhabitants,   spreads   its  buildings   on   the 
banks  of  both  rivers.     The  Volga,  which  near  laroslavl  is  2106 
feet  broad,  has  a  breadth  of  4593   above   Kazan  ;  towards  Sa- 
mara sometimes  it  decreases  to  2446  feet ;  sometimes  it  spreads, 
with  its  tributary  streams  and  lateral  branches,  over  a  breadth 
of    17    miles.     At   the    Caspian    it    divides  into    seventy-five 
branches,  forming  numerous  islands,  and  its  delta  spreads  over 
93  miles.     This  immense  river,  the  waters  of  which  abound 
with  fish  as  large  as  sea-fish, — sturgeon,  salmon,  lampreys, — 
and  where  the  sterlet  sometimes  weighs  1073  pounds,  would  be 
the  wonder  of   Europe,   if   it  was   not  frost-bound  during  many 
months  in  the  year.     But  at  the  thaw  the  ports,  the  dockyards, 
the  wharves,  are  full  of  life.     Two  hundred  thousand  workmen 
flock  from  all  parts  of  Russia  to  its  banks.     Fifteen  thousand 
ships  and  500  steamboats  plough  its  waters.     Kostroma,  Nijni- 
Novgorod,  Kazan,  Simbirsk,  Samara,  Saratof,    Astrakhan,  are 
filled  with  noise   and    movement.      The  whole  life  of   Russia 
seems  concentrated  on  the  Volga. 

The  basin  of  the  Volga  and  its  tributaries  embraces  an  ex- 
tent of  surface  nearly  treble  that  of  France.  The  basin  of  the 
Oka  alone  has  three  limes  the  extent  of  the  basin  of  the 
Loire.  In  her  vast  domain  the  Volga  included  nearly  the 
whole  of  the  Russia  of  the  i6th  century,  and  has  ex- 
ercised an  irresistible  influence  over  the  destiny  of  the  land. 
From  the  day  that  the  Grand  Princes  established  their  capital 
on  the  Moskowa,  a  tributary  of  the  Oka  and  sub-tributary  of  the 
Volga,  Russia  turned  to  the  east,  and  began  her  struggle  with 
the  Turks  and  Tatars.    The  Dnieper  made  Russia  Byzantine, 


ffIS  TOR  V  OF  R  USSU. ,  2 1 

the  Volga  made  her  Asiatic :  it  was  for  the  Neva  to  make  her 
European.  The  whole  history  of  this  country  is  the  history  of 
its  three  great  rivers,  and  is  divided  into  three  periods:  that  of 
the  Dnieper  with  Kief,  that  of  the  Volga  with  Moscow,  that  of 
the  Neva  with  Novgorod  in  the  8th  century,  and  St.  Petersburg 
in  the  i8th.  The  greatness  of  this  creation  of  Peter  I.  con- 
sisted in  his  transporting  his  capital  to  the  Baltic,  without 
abandoning  the  Caspian  and  the  Volga,  and  in  seeking  for  the 
great  Eastern  river  a  new  outlet  which  should  open  a  communi- 
cation  with  Western  seas.  Thanks  to  the  canals  of  the  Tik- 
vinka  and  of  the  Ladoga,  which  furnished  that  outlet,  the  Neva 
has  become,  as  it  were,  the  northern  mouth,  the  European 
estuary  of  the  Volga. 

THE  FOUR  ZONES — THE  GEOGRAPHICAL  UNITY  OF  RUSSIA. 

From  the  point  of  view  of  production,  Russia  may  be  divided 
into  four  unequal  bands,  which  run  from  the  south-west  to  the 
north-east,  namely  :  the  zone  of  forests,  that  of  the  Tchernoziont 
or  Black  Land,  that  of  the  arable  steppes  or  prairies,  and  that  of 
the  barren  steppes. 

1.  The  most  northerly  and  largest  zone  is  the  poliessa  or 
Russian  forest,  which  borders  on  one  side  on  the  frozen  marshes 
and  the  toundra  of  the  icv  shore,  and  on  the  other  on  the  wide 
clearings  formed  by  the  agricultural  enterprise  of  Novgorod, 
Moscow,  and  laroslavl.  In  the  north  the  forest  begins  with  the 
larch;  in  the  centre  resinous  trees,  with  their  dark  foliage,  alter- 
nate with  the  small  leaves  and  white  bark  of  the  birch  ;  further 
south  come  the  lime,  the  elm,  and  the  sycamore,  and  the  oak 
appears  at  the  southern  limit. 

2.  The  Black  Land  extends  from  the  banks  of  the  Pruth  to 
the  Caucasus,  over  the  widest  extent  of  Russia  ;  it  even  passes 
the  Oural  and  the  Caucasus,  and  is  prolonged  into  Asia.  It 
derives  its  name  from  a  deep  bed  of  black  mould  of  inexhaust' 
ible  fertility,  which  produces  without  manure  the  richest  har^ 
vests,  and  may  be  compared  to  a  gigantic  Beauce,  375,000 
miles,  square;  a  corn-field  as  large  as  the  whole  of  France.  From 
ThTs  alone  twenty-five  millions  are  fed,  and  the  population  in- 
creases daily.  From  time  immemorial  this  soil  has  been  the 
granary  of  Eastern  Europe.  It  was  here  Herodotus  placed  his 
agricultural  Scythians,  and  hence  Athens  drew  her  grain. 

3.  The  zone  of  arable  steppes  lies  parallel  to  the  Black  Land  ; 
to  the  south  it  descends  nearly  to  the  sea:  the  country  is  fertile, 
though  it  cannot  do  without  manure.  It  formed  before  tillasre 
a  bare  grass-grown  plain,  completelv  devoid  of  wood,  and  with 
its  37 e;,ooo(  miles  square^  recalls   the  American    prairie.     The 


22  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

vegetation  of  the  steppe,  where  men  and  flocks  can  hide  them 
selves  as  in  a  forest,  is  often  five,  six,  and  even  eight  feet  high. 
This  monotonous  steppe,  unbroken  except  by  the  barrows  that 
cover  the  bones  of  early  races, — this  steppe,  which  is  an  ocean 
of  verdure  in  spring,  but  russet  and  burnt  up  in  the  autumn,  is 
very  dear  to  her  children.  It  was  for  long  the  Russia  of  heroes, 
the  property  of  nomad  horsemen,  the  country  of  the  Cossack. 
The  Black  Land  and  the  prairie,  which  is  nearly  as  fertile,  have 
a  superficies  of  750,000 'miles  square,  or  300,000,000  of  acres  of 
excellent  earth,  a  surface  equal  to  that  of  France  and  Austrian 
Hungary  united. 

4.  The  fourth  zone,  that  of  the  barren  steppes,  steppes  wl/ich 
are  sandy  at  the  mouth  of  the  Dnieper,  clay  to  the  north  of  the 
Crimea,  saline  to  the  north  of  the  Caspian,  only  contains  1,500,- 
000  inhabitants  in  its  whole  extent  of  250,000  miles.  "Unsuiled 
to  agriculture,  and  in  a  great  degree  to  civilized  life,"  says  M. 
Leroy-Beaulieu,  "  these  vast  spaces,  like  the  neighboring  plains 
of  Asia,  seem  only  fit  for  the  raising  of  cattle  and  the  nomad  ex- 
istence. Of  all  Russia  in  Europe,  these  are  the  only  parts  which 
even  at  the  present  day  are  inhabited  by  the  Kirghiz  and  the 
Kalmucks,  nomad  tribes  of  Asia,  and  up  to  a  few  years  ago  by 
the  Tatars  of  the  Crimea  and  the  Nogals.  Here  the  Asiatics 
appear  as  much  at  home  as  in  their  native  country." 

The  productive  parts  of  Russia  are  these  :  the  frairie,  the 
Black  Land,  and  in  the  zone  of  forests  the  agriculture  and  in- 
dustrial region  of  Novgorod,  Moscow,  Nijni-Novgorod,  and 
Kazan.  Were  the  sea-level  to  rise  and  drown  the  northern  part 
of  iho.  po/iessa  and  the  barren  steppes  of  the  south,  nothing  would 
be  taken  from  the  real  force  and  riches  of  Russia. 

These  alternations  of  low  plains  and  plateaux,  this  diversity 
in  the  direction  of  the  great  rivers,  this  division  into  forests  and 
barren  and  arable  steppes,  does  not  hinder  Elastern  Europe  from 
presenting  a  remarkable  unity.  None  of  the  parts  of  Russia 
could  remain  isolated  from  the  others ;  the  plains  admit  of  no 
barrier,  no  frontier;  those  which  the  rivers  might  impose  would 
be  effaced  in  winter  under  the  chariot-wheels  of  armies,  when 
the  land  is  ice-bound  from  the  White  Sea  to  the  Euxine,  and  the 
climate  is  almost  as  severe  at  Kief  as  at  Arkhangel.  All  these 
regions,  which  resume  their  different  characters  in  spring,  are 
kept  together  by  economical  interests  and  needs.  The  forest 
zone  needs  the  corn  of  the  Dnieper,  the  cattle  of  the  Volga  ;  the 
steppes  of  the  south  need  the  wood  of  the  north.  The  commerce 
with  Europe,  which  was  condu-cted  by  means  of  the  northern 
Dwina,  the  Neva  and  the  southern  Dwina,  was  completed  by 
that  with  the  south  and  the  east,  carried  on  by  the  Dnieper  and 
the  Volga. 


HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA.  ,3 

Only  the  region  of  Moscow,  where  fields  and  woods  alternate, 
was  long  sufficient  for  its  own  wants;  but  since  Moscow  has 
turned  to  industrial  arts,  she  needs  help  from  others.  In  early 
times  she  united  the  products  of  the  north  and  the  south  ;  she 
thus  formed  the  connecting  link  between  them,  and  ended  by 
becoming  their  ruler.  Even  Novgorod  was  forced  to  acknowl- 
edge her  dependence  on  the  princes  established  on  the  Oka, 
who  had  only  to  forbid  the  transportation  of  corn  from  the  Upper 
Volga  to  the'  region  of  the  lakes  to  reduce  the  Great  Republic 
to  obedience. 

The  wide  plains  of  Russia  are  as  evidently  destined  to  be 
united  as  Switzerland  to  be  divided.  Between  the  Carpathians 
and  the  Ourals,  between  the  Caucasus  and  the  system  of  Finland, 
nature  has  marked  out  a  vast  empire  of  which  the  mountain 
girdle  forms  the  framework.  How  this  framework  has  been  filled 
in  is  the  lesson  that  history  has  to  teach  us. 


nrSTOKY  OF  RUSSIA. 


CHAPTER  II. 


ETHNOGRAPHY   OF   RUSSIA. 


Greek  Colonies  and  the  Scythia  of  Herodotus — The  Russian  Slavs  of  Nestei 
— Lithuanian,  Finnish,  and  Turkish  hordes  in  the  ninth  century — Division 
of  the  Russians  proper  into  three  branches — How  Russia  was  colonized. 


GREEK  COLONIES  AND  THE  SCYTHIA  OF  HERODOTUS. 

The  early  Greeks  had  established  factories  and  founded 
flourishing  colonies  on  the  northern  shores  of  the  Black  Sea. 
The  Milesians  and  Megarians  built  Tomi  or  Kustenje,  near 
the  Danube,  Istros  at  its  mouth,  Tyras  at  that  of  the  Dniester, 
Odessos  at  that  of  the  Bug,  Olbia  at  that  of  the  Dnieper,  Cher- 
sonesos  or  Cherson  on  the  roadstead  of  Sebastopol,  Palakion 
which  afterwards  became  Balaclava,  Theodosia  which  became 
Kaffa,  Panticapea  (Kertch),  and  Phanagoria  on  the  two  shores 
of  the  Strait  of  lenikale,  Tanais  at  the  mouth  of  the  Don,  Apa- 
touros  in  the  Kuban,  Phasis,  Dioscurias,  Pityus  at  the  foot  of 
the  Caucasus,  on  the  coast  of  ancient  Colchis.  Panticapea, 
Phanagoria  and  Theodosia  formed,  in  the  4th  century  B.C.,  a 
confederation  with  a  hereditary  chief  called  the  Archon  of  the 
Bosphorus  at  its  head,  whose  authority  was  also  acknowledged 
by  some  of  the  barbarous  tribes. 

Russian  archaeologists,  and  quite  recently,  M.  Ouvarof,  have 
brought  to  light  many  monuments  of  Greek  civilization,  funeral 
pillars,  inscriptions,  bas-reliefs,  statues  of  gods  and  heroes.  We 
know  that  the  colonists  carefully  preserved  the  Greek  civiliza- 
tion, cultivated  the  arts  of  their  mother  cities,  repeated  the 
poems  of  Homer  as  they  marched  to  battle,  loved  eloquent 
speeches  as  late  as  the  time  of  Dion  Chrysostom,  and  offered  a 
special  cult  to  the  memory  of  Achilles.  Beyond  the  line  of 
(ireek  colonies  dwelt  a  whole  world  of  tribes,  whom  the  Greeks 
designated  by  the  common  name  of  Scythians,  with  whom  they 
entered  into  wars  and  alliances,  and  who  served  them  as  mid- 
dlemen in  their  trade  with  the  coimtries  of  the  north.  Herodotus 
has  handed  on  to  us  nearly  all  that  was  known  of  these  bar- 
barians in  the  5th  century  B.C. 

The  Scythians  worshipped  a  sword  fixed  in  the  earth  as  an 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


«S 


image  of  the  god  of  war,  and  bedewed  it  with  sacrifices  of  human 
gore.  They  drank  the  blood  of  the  first  enemy  killed  in  battle, 
scalped  their  prisoners,  and  used  their  skulls  as  drinking-cups, 
They  gave  their  kings  terrible  burial-rites,  and  celebrated  the 
anniversaries  of  their  death  by  strangling  their  horses  and  slaves, 
and  leaving  the  impaled  corpses  to  surround  the  royal  kourgan 
with  a  circle  of  horsemen.  They  honored  the  memory  of  the 
wise  Anacharsis,  who  travelled  among  the  Greeks.  Their  nomad 
hordes  defied  the  power  of  Darius  Hystaspes. 

Among  the  Scythians  properly  so  called,  Herodotus  distin- 
guished the  agriciiliiiral  Scythians  established  on  the  Dnieper 
probably  in  the  tchernoziom  of  the  Ukraine  ;  the  nomad  Scyth- 
ians, who  extended  fourteen  days'  journey  to  the  east  ;  the 
royal  Scythians  encamped  round  the  Sea  of  Azof,  who  regarded 
the  other  Scythians  as  their  slaves. 

The  barbarism  of  the  inland  tribes  became  rapidly  modified 
under  the  influence  of  the  powerful  cities  of  Olbia  and  Cher- 
sonesos,  and  the  Greco-Scythian  state  of  the  Bosphorus.  In  the 
tombs  of  the  Scythian  kings  of  what  is  now  the  government  of 
Ekaterinoslaf,  as  well  as  in  those  of  the  Greco-Scythian  princes 
of  the  Bosphorus,  works  of  art  have  been  found  which  show  the 
genius  of  the  Greeks  accommodating  itself  to  the  taste  of  the 
barbarians,  precious  vases  chiselled  for  them  by  Athenian  artists, 
and  all  the  jewels  which  at  present  enrich  the  museums  of 
Kertch,  Odessa,  and  St.  Petersburg. 

The  Hermitage  Museum  at  St.  Petersburg,  in  particular, 
possesses  two  vases  of  an  incomparable  artistic  and  archaeologic 
value.  They  are  the  silver  vase  of  Nicopol  (government  of 
Ekaterinoslaf)  and  the  golden  vase  of  Kertch,  and  date  from  the 
4ih  century  B.C.,  or  about  the  period  when  Herodotus  wrote  his 
historv,  of  which  thev  are  the  livelvcommentarv.  The  Scvthians 
of  the  silver  vase,  with  their  long  hair,  their  long  beards,  large 
features,  tunics  and  trousers,  reproduce  very  fairly  the  physiog- 
nomy, stature  and  costume  of  the  present  inhabitants  of  the 
same  countries  ;  we  see  them  breaking-in  and  bridling  their 
horses  in  exactly  the  same  way  as  they  do  it  to-day  in  those 
plains.  The  Scythians  of  the  golden  vase,  notwithstanding  their 
pointed  caps,  their  garments  embroidered  and  ornamented  after 
the  Asiatic  taste,  and  their  strangely-shaped  bows,  are  of  a  very 
marked  Aryan  type.  The  former  might  very  well  have  been 
the  agricultural  Scythians  of  Herodotus,  perhaps  the  ancestors 
of  the  agricultural  Slavs  of  the  Dnieper  ;  the  latter,  the  royal 
Scythians  who  led  a  nomad  and  warlike  life.  The  philological 
studies  of  M.  Bergmann  and  M.  Mullendorf  tend  to  identify 
the  Scythian  idiom  with  the  Indo-European  family  of  languages. 
"  They  were  then,"  says  M.  Geoiges  Perrot,  "  in  spite  of  many 


2  S  HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USS/A. 

apparent  differences  of  language,  customs  and  civilization,  nearly 
related  to  the  Greeks,  and  this  kinship  perhaps  contributed, 
without  the  knowledge  of  either  Greeks  or  barbarians,  to  facili- 
tate the  relations  between  Hellenes  and  Scythians." 

Herodotus  takes  care  to  make  an  emphatic  distiilction  be- 
tween the  Scythians  properly  so  called,  and  certain  other  peoples 
about  whom  ne  has  strange  stories  to  tell.  These  peoples  are 
the  Melanchlainai,  who  wear  black  raiment  ;  the  Neuri,  who, 
once  a  year,  become  were-wolves  ;  the  Agathyrsi,  who  array 
themselves  in  golden  ornaments,  and  have  their  women  in 
tommon  ;  the  Sauromati,  sprung  from  the  loves  of  the  Scythians 
with  the  Amazons  ;  the  Budini  and  Geloni,  slightly  tinged  with 
Greek  culture  ;  the  Thysagetae,  the  Massageai  the  lyrx,  who 
lived  on  the  produce  of  the  chase  ;  the  Argippei,  who  were  bald 
and  snub-nosed  from  their  birth  ;  the  Issedones,  who  used  to 
devour  their  dead  parents  with  great  pomp  and  ceremony  ;  the 
one-eyed  Arimaspians  ;  the  Gryphons,  guardians  of  fabled  gold  ; 
the  Hyperboreans,  who  dwell  in  a  land  where,  summer  and 
winter,  the  snow-flakes  fall,  like  a  shower  of  white  feathers. 

It  seems  probable  that  among  all  these  peoples  there  may 
be  some  who  have  since  emigrated  westwards,  and  who  may  be- 
long to  the  German  and  Gothic  races.  Others,  again,  may  have 
continued  to  maintain  themselves,  under  different  names,  in 
Eastern  Europe,  such  as  the  Slavs,  the  Finns,  and  even  a  certain 
number  of  Turkish  tribes.  M.  Rittich  believes  he  can  identify 
the  Mdanchla'uiai  of  Herodotus  with  the  Esthonians,  who  stili 
prefer  dark  raiment ;  the  Androphagi  with  the  Samoyedes,  whose 
name  is  derived  from  the  Finnish  word  suomcadnce  ;  the  Issedones 
with  the  Vogouls,  who  may  very  well  have  dwelt  on  the  Isseta, 
a  sub-tributary  of  the  Obi  ;  the  Arimaspians  \s\l\\  Votiaks,  whom 
the  Turks  now  call  Ari  ;  the  Argippei,  Aorses,  and  Zyrians  of 
Strabo  with  the  Erzes  or  Zyrians  ;  the  Massagefes  with  the  Bach- 
kirs.  M.  Vivien  de  Saint-Martin  recognizes  the  Agathyrsi  in 
the  Agatzirs  of  Priscus  (a.d.  449),  and  Acatzirs  of  Jornandes, 
who  are  the  Khazars.  The  Finns,  then,  have  formed  the  most 
widely-spread  race  of  Scythia. 


THE   RUSSIAN  SLAVS    OF    NRSTOR   THE   CHRONICt,KR — LITHUANIAN, 
FINNISH,   AND   TURKISH   CLANS    IN   TlIK   NINTH    CENTURY. 

The  great  barbaric  invasions   in  the  4th   century  of  our  era 

formed  a  period  of  change   and  terrible  catastrophe  in  Eastern 

Europe.     The  Goths,  under  Hermanaric,  founded  a  vast  empire 

n    Eastern    Scythia.     The    Huns,  under   Attila,  overthrew   this 

Gothic  dominion,  and  a  cloud  of  Finnish  peoples.  Avars  and 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


27 


Bulgarians,  followed   later   by  Magyars  and    Khazars,  hurried 
swiftly  on  the  traces  of  the  Huns.     In  the  midst  of  this  strife 
and  medley  of  peoples,  the  Slavs  came  to  the   front  with   their 
own  marked  character,  and  appeared  in  history  under  their  pro- 
per name.     They  were  described  by  the  Greek  chroniclers  and 
by   the    Emperors   Maurice   and   Constantine   Porphyrogenitus. 
They  clashed  against  the  Roman  Empire  of  the  East ;  they  be- 
gan the  secular  duel  between   the  Greek  and  Slavonic   races,  a 
duel  which  is  still  being   waged  for  the    prize  of  mastery  in    the 
peninsula  of  the   Balkans.     Certain   tribes   formed   a  separate 
group  among  the  others,  and  received  the   name  of  the  Russian 
Slavs.     Nestor,  the  first   Russian  historian,  a  monk  of   Kief,  of 
the  12th  cejitury,  has  described  their  geographical  distribution 
as  it  existed  two  hundred  vears  before  his  time.     The  Slavs, 
properly  so  called,  inhabited  the  basin  of  the   Ilmen,  and   the 
west  bank  of  Lake  Pei'pus ;  their  towns,  Novgorod,  Pskof,  Izborsk, 
appear  in  the  very  beginning  of  the  history  of  Russia.     The  Kri- 
vitches,  again,  were   settled  on   the  sources  of  the  Dwina  and 
the  Dnieper,  round  their  city  of  Smolensk.     The  Polotchans  had 
Polotsk,  on  the  Upper  Dwina.     The  Dregovitches  dwelt  on  the 
west  of  the  Dwina,  and  of  the  Upper  Dnieper,  and  held  Tourof. 
The  Radimitches  abode  on  the  Soja,  a  tributary  of  the  Dnieper, 
and  possessed  the  old  cities  of  Ouvritch  and   Korosthenes  ;  the 
Viatitches   on  the   Higher  Oka;  the    Drevlians,  so  called   from 
the  thick  forests  which  covered  their  territorv,  in  the  basin  of 
the  Pripet.     Between  the  Desna  and  the  Dnieper  the   Severians 
were  established ;  their  towns   were   Loubetch,  Tchernigof,  and 
Pereiaslavl.     The  Polians  faced  the  Severians  on  the  right  bank 
of  the   Dnieper ;    Kief  was  their  centre.     The    White   Croats 
abode  between  the  Dniestei  and  the  Carpathians  ;  the  Tivertses 
and  the  Loutitches  on  the  Lower  Dniester  and  the  Pruth ;  the 
Doulebesand  the  Boujans  on  the  Bug,  a  tributary  of  the  Vistula. 
Nestor's  list  of  the  Russian  Slavs   shows  that,  in  the  9th  cen- 
tury of  our  era,  when   their  history  begins,  they  occupied  but  a 
small  part  of  the  Russia  of  to-day.     They  were  almost  completely 
penned  in  the  districts  of  the  Dwina  and  the  Upper  Dnieper,  of 
the   Ilmen  and  the  Dniester.     In  all  the  immense  basin  of  the 
Caspian,  their  share  was  only  the  land  they  occupied  around  the 
sources  of  the  Volga  and  the  Oka. 

On  the  west  and  north,  the  Russian  Slavs  bordered  on  other 
Slavonic  tribes,  which,  about  this  period,  acquired  distinct 
national  names.  Some  groups,  scattered  about  the  Upper  Elbe 
and  the  two  banks  of  the  Vistula,  after  the  invasion  of  the 
Tcheques  and  the  Liakhs  or  Lechites  (from  the  4th  to  the  7th 
century),  formed  themselves  into  the  States  of  Bohemia  and  Po- 
land. 


28  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

Other  tribes  on  the  March,  or  Morava,  made,  in  the  kingdom 
of  Moravia,  their  first  attempt  to  secure  political  existence  (9th 
century).  Certain  others  scattered  on  the  Lower  Danube 
formed  the  kingdom  of  Bulgaria,  after  the  invasion  of  the  Bul- 
garians under  Asparuch  (680).  In  a  more  distant  land  on  the 
Adriatic,  the  Servian  and  Croatian  tribes  were  preparing  to 
organize  themselves  into  the  kingdoms  of  Croatia,  Dalmatia, 
and  Servia.  On  the  Baltic  were  the  Slavs  of  Pomerania,  of 
Brandenburg  (Mavelians),  and  Sprevanians  of  the  banks  of  the 
Elbe  (Obotrites,  Wiltzes,  Lutitzes,  and  Sorabians  or  Sorbes),  all 
one  day  to  be  absorbed  by  the  German  Conquest. 

At  this  period  there  was  little  difference  between  Russian 
and  Polish  Slavs.  M.  Koulich  thinks  that  conquests  achieved 
by  two  different  races  of  men ;  that  the  adoption  of  two  irrecon- 
cilable creeds  (those  of  Rome  and  of  Byzantium)  ;  that  the  in- 
fluence of  two  rival  civilizations,  the  Greek  and  the  Latin,  with 
their  separate  literatures  and  alphabets; — that  all  these  influ- 
ences created  two  antagonistic  peoples  in  the  midst  of  a  race  of 
one  blood,  and  stamped  on  the  inert  and  unconscious  materia] 
of  the  Slavonic  kindred  the  impress  of  two  hostile  nationalities. 
The  Slav,  moulded  by  the  Lechites,  converted  to  the  Church  of 
Rome,  and  subject  to  the  influences  of  the  west,  became  the 
Pole.  The  Slav,  moulded  by  the  Varangians,  converted  to  the 
Greek  church,  and  subject  to  Byzantine  influences,  became  the 
Russian.  In  the  beginning,  on  the  Vistula  as  on  the  Dnieper, 
all  were  Slavs  alike  ;  all  practised  the  same  heathen  ritual ;  all 
were  governed  by  the  same  traditions,  and  spoke  almost  the 
same  language.  Indeed,  the  affinities  of  the  Russian  and 
Polish  idioms,  between  which  the  dialects  of  White  Russia,  of 
Red  Russia,  and  of  Little  Russia  serve  as  links,  sufiiciently  de- 
monstrate an  original  brotherhood,  which  the  strifes  of  churches 
and  of  thrones  have  destroyed. 

The  Russian  Slavs,  before  taking  possession  of  all  the  domain 
assigned  to  them  by  history,  had  to  struggle  in  the  north  and 
east  against  the  nations  belonging  to  three  principal  races,  the 
Letto-Lithuanians,  the  Finns  and  the  Turks,  in  whom  Finnish 
and  Tatar  elements  were  more  or  less  mingled.  The  Finns 
and  the  Turks  belong  to  that  branch  of  the  human  family  which 
has  been  named,  from  its  twofold  cradle  of  the  Oural  and  the 
Altai,  Ouralo-Altaic.  The  first  of  these  races  belongs  to  the 
Aryan  family,  but  is  nevertheless  distinct  from  the  (iermanic 
or  Slav  races,  and  its  dialects  have  more  resemblance  to  San- 
scrit than  any  other  European  tongue.  The  Jmouds  and  the 
Lithuanians,  properly  so  called,  dwell  on  the  Niemen,  the  lat- 
viagues  on  the  Narcv.  On  the  western  shore  of  the  Gulf  of 
Rig^i  and  on  the  Baltic,  the  Korses^  who  give  their  name  to 


ffIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA .  2  g 

Courland,  are  to  be  found,  while  the  Sanigalli  inhabit  the  left 
banlc  of  ihe  Dwina;  and  'he  Letgols,  from  whom  are  descended 
by  a  mingling  with  tlie  Finnish  race  of  Livonians,  the  Letts  ol 
Laiiches  of  Southern  Livonia.  The  Livonians  on  the  Gulfs  of 
Livonia  and  Finland,  and  the  Tchoud-Estonians,  who  gave  their 
name  to  Peipus,  the  Lake  of  the  7V/ioitds,  belong  to  the  Unnish 
race.  They  are  liie  ancestors  of  the  present  inhabitants  of 
Northern  Livonia  and  Esthonia.  The  three  so-called  German 
provinces  of  the  Baltic  are  then  Lettish  in  tlie  south,  Finnisii  in 
the  north.  The  Naro\'ians  were  established  on  the  Narova, 
which  is  a  territory  of  the  Peipus  ;  the  Votes  or  Vodes,  between 
the  Volkhof  and  the  sea,  in  a  country  called  by  the  Novgoro- 
dians,  VoJska'ia  Fiatina ;  the  Ingrians  or  Ijors,  on  the  Ijora  or 
Ingra,  a  tributary  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Neva.  The  Tchoud- 
Estonians  at  the  present  day  number  719,000,  the  Livonians 
2540,  the  Vodes  5000,  and  the  Ingrians  iS,ooo. 

Finland  or  Suomen-maa  (land  of  the  Suomi)  is  still  inhabited 
by  the  Suomi,  who  were  divided  into  three  tribes,  the  lames  or 
Tavasts  on  the  south-east,  round  Inamburg  and  Tavastehus  ; 
the  Kvins  or  Kaians,  on  the  Gulf  of  Bothnia ;  the  Carelians, 
who  were  more  numerous  than  the  two  othernations  put  together, 
occupied  the  rest  of  Finland.  These  three  peoples  at  present 
amount  to  a  total  of  i,  450,000.  The  north  of  Finland  was  ai;d 
is  inhabited  by  the  Laps  or  Laplanders,  who  form  a  special 
division  of  the  Finnish  race,  and  reckon  in  Russia  about  4000 
souls.  The  shores  of  the  Icy  Ocean,  from  the  vlezen  to  the 
Yenissei,  have  been  always  occupied  by  the  Samoyedes,  a  very 
wide-spread  but  far  from  numerous  people,  who  amount  in  Europe 
to  about  5000  souls.  In  the  time  of  Nestor  the  Vesses  dwelt  on 
the  Cheksna  and  the  White  Lake  ;  the  IMouromians  (whose 
name  is  repeated  in  that  of  Mourom)  on  the  Oka  and  its  afflu- 
ents, the  Aloskowa  and  the  Kliazma  ;  the  Merians  on  the  Upper 
Volga  around  the  Lake  Klechtchine  and  Lake  Nero  or  Rostof. 
These  three  tribes  have  completely  disappeared,  having  been 
absorbed  or  transformed  by  the  Russian  colonization,  but  leave 
behind  them  innumerable  kourgans  or  tiimidi.  Between  185 1 
and  1854,  M.  Ouvarof  and  M.  Savelief  excavated  7729  in  the 
Merian  country  alone.  Besides  these  monuments  and  the 
remains  which  they  contain,  the  only  traces  left  of  these  tribes 
are  to  be  found  in  names  of  places,  and  in  certain  peculiarities 
of  the  local  dialects.  It  was  around  their  territory  that  the 
Muscovite  State  and  the  Russian  empire  W'ere  formed.  The 
Tchoud-Zavolotchians  were  encamped  on  the  Lower  Dwina;  the 
Erzes,  or  Zyrians,  inhabited  the  basin  of  the  Petchora  ;  the  Per- 
mians,  the  source  of  the  Dwina  and  the  Kama;  the  Votiaks  or 
Ari  lived  on  the  Viatka,  where  the  town  of  Viatka  still  preserves 


30 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


their  name.  These  races  form  what  is  called  the  Permian  branch 
of  the  Finnish  nation  ;  their  country  was  named  by  the  Scandi- 
navians, Biarmia  or  Biarmaland,  and  "  Great  Permia  "  by  the 
Muscovites.  Biarmaland  was  discovered  in  the  glh  century  by 
the  Norwegian  navigator  Other,  who  not  long  afterwards  entered 
the  Service  of  Alfred  the  Great,  king  of  England,  and  has  left 
in  Anglo-Saxon  an  account  of  his  travels.  This  narrative  proves 
that  the  Permians  were  then  a  civilized  people,  who  traded  with 
India  and  Persia.  The  temple  of  their  god  loumala  was  so 
richly  ornamented  with  precious  stones,  that  its  brilliance  illu- 
minated all  the  surrounding  country.  The  Erzes  number  at  the 
present  day  only  80,000,  the  Permians  70,000,  the  Votiaks 
234,000. 

The  Ougrian  branch  is  composed  first  of  the  Ostiaks,  amourjt- 
ing  to  20,000  and  of  the  Voguls  (  7000).  On  the  east  they  in- 
habit the  Ourals,  and  only  border  on  Europe.  Formerly  they 
lived  more  to  the  south.  The  Magyars,  who  made  Europe  tremble 
in  the  loth  century,  and  founded  the  kingdom  of  Hungar};,  be- 
longed to  this  race. 

Between  the  Kama  and  the  Oural  were  already  to  be  found 
the  Bach-Kourtes  (shaven-heads)  or  Bachkirs  of  the  i6th  to  the 
17th  centuries,  originally  a  Finnish  people,  no  doubt  of  theUgrian 
branch,  but  profoundly  Talarized,  with  whom  were  mingled  the 
Metcheraks,  a  tribe  named  by  Nestor.  There  are  at  present 
500,000  Bachkirs,and  100,000  Metcheraks.  On  the  Middle  Volga 
dwelt  the  Tcheremisses,  the  Tchouvaches,  and  the  Mordvians  ; 
the  Tcheremisses  are  found  again  to-day  in  the  government  of 
Kazan,  Nijni-Novgorod,  and  Viatka  ;  the  Tchouvaches  in  Kazan, 
Nijni-Novgorod,  and  Simbirsk;  the  Mordvians  in  Kazan,  Tam- 
bof,  Pensa,  Simbirsk,  Samara,  and  Saratof,  but  these  are  now 
only  small  islets  amid  the  Russian  colonization,  whereas  in  the 
time  of  Nestor  they  formed  a  compact  mass.  The  Tcheremisses 
now  only  number  165,000,  the  Tchouvaches  430.000,  and  the 
Mordvians  500,000  ;  all  the  rest  have  become  Russians  except  a 
few  who  have  become  Tatar. 

All  seems  strange  among  these  ancient  peoples.  The  type 
of  countenance  is  blurred  and,  as  it  were,  unfinished ;  the  cos 
tume  seems  to  have  been  adopted  from  some  antediluvian 
fashion  ;  the  manners  and  superstitions  preserve  the  trace  of 
early  religions  beyond  the  date  of  any  known  paganisms  ;  the 
language  is  sometimes  so  very  primitive  that  the  Tchouvaches 
for  example  do  not  possess  more  than  a  thousand  original  words. 

The  'rdieremiss  women  wear  on  their  breasts  two  plates  form- 
ing a  cuirass,  and  ornamented  with  pieces  of  silver,  transmitted 
from  generation  to  generation.  A  numismatist  would  make 
wonderful  discoveries  in  these  walking  museums  of  medal*. 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


31 


They  drape  their  legs  in  a  piece  of  tightly  "  tied  back  "  bir.ck 
rloth,  and  think  that  niodestv  consists  in  never  showinir  the  lesfs. 
jusl  as  the  Tatar  women  make  a  point  of  never  unveiling  the 
face. 

The  Tchouvach  women  cover  their  heads  with  a  little  peaked 
cap  like  a  Saracen  helmet,  carry  on  their  backs  a  covering  of 
leather  and  metal,  like  the  trapping  of  a  war-horse,  and  wear  on 
fete-davs  a  stiff  and  rectanjjular  mantle  like  a  chasuble.  Anions: 
this  singular  people,  "black"  and  "  beautiful  "  are  synonymous, 
and  when  they  wish  to  revenge  themselves  they  hang  them- 
selves at  their  enemy's  door. 

In  spite  of  three  centuries  of  Christian  missions,  these  tribes 
dwelling  in  the  heart  of  Russia  and  on  the  great  artery  of  the 
Volga  are  not  even  yet  complete  converts  to  Christianity. 

There  are  still  some  pagan  districts.  It  may  even  be  said 
that  a  considerable  portion  of  the  Tcheremisses,  Tchouvaches, 
Mordvians,  and  Votiaks  remain  attached  to  the  worship  of  the 
ancient  deities,  which  they  sometimes  mingle  with  the  orthodox 
practices  and  the  worship  of  St.  Nicholas.  Their  religion  consisted 
essentially  in  dualism  :  the  good  principle  is  called  by  the 
Tchouvaches,  Tliora;  louma  (the  "  loumal  "  of  the  Finns) 
by  the  Tcheremisses  ;  Inma  by  the  Votiaks,  etc.  The  bad  prin- 
ciple was  named  Chaitan  or  Satan.  Between  the  two  is  a 
divinitv  whom  men  had  in  former  times  cruellv  offended,  who 
is  called  Keremet.  From  the  good  god  proceeded  an  infinity  of 
gods  and  goddesses ;  from  Keremet  a  numerous  progeny  of 
male  and  female  Keremets,  genii  more  mischievous  and  ma- 
levolent, to  whom  the  aborigines  offer  pieces  of  money,  and 
sacrifice  horses,  oxen,  sheep,  swans,  and  cocks  and  hens,  in 
sanctuaries  also  named  Keremet,  built  in  the  depths  of  the 
forests  and  far  from  Russian  spies. 

Human  sacrifices  have  been  talked  of.  The  worship  of  the 
dead  inspired  ideas  which  guide-  the  savage  everywhere.  j\Ien 
have  preserved  the  custom  of  wife-capture,  or  buying  brides 
from  the  fathers  by  paying  the  kalym  ;  they  practise  agricultural 
communism.  In  a  word,  the  life  of  these  races  of  the  Volga 
in  the  19th  century  is  the  living  commentary  of  the  accounts  of 
Nestor  of  the  Russian  Slavs  of  the  9th  century. 

It  is  probable  that  Slavs  and  Russians  then  lived  in  an 
absolutely  identical  state  of  civilization,  and  had  almost  the 
same  religious  ideas  and  the  same  customs. 

There  remain  two  Finnish  peoples  still  to  be  spoken  of,  who, 
mentioned  by  Nestor,  have  at  present  disappeared,  but  who  were 
far  more  remarkable  than  any  of  the  preceding.  These  are  the 
Khazars,  who,  although  mingled  with  Turkish  elements,  were 
essentially  Finnish.     Remarkable  for  their  aptitude  for  civiliza' 


32  •  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

tion,  they  haa  for.ned  in  the  9th  century  a  vast  empire,  which 
embraced  the  regions  of  the  Lower  Dnieper,  the  Don,  and  the 
Lower  Volga,  round  the  Sea  of  Azof  and  the  Caspian  ;  they  had 
built  Itil  on  the  Volga,  and  Sarkel  or  the  White  City  on  the 
Don  ;  they  had  sometimes  governors  at  Bosporos  and  Cherson 
in  the  Taurid  peninsula ;  in  the  Kuban  they  possessed  the 
Tamatarchia  of  the  Greeks,  They  had  commercial  and  friendly 
relations  with  Byzantium,  the  caliphate  of  Bagdad,  and  even  the 
caliphate  of  Cordova,  the  only  civilized  states  of  the  then  known 
world.  The  Khazars  had  flourishing  schools,  and  tolerated  all 
religions  besides  the  national  paganism.  Mussulman  mission- 
aries appeared  in  the  7th,  Jewish  missionaries  in  the  8th  century, 
and  Saint  Cyril  arrived  about  860  at  the  court  of  their  Chagan. 
A  Jewish  Chagan  of  the  name  of  Joseph  interchanged  some 
curious  letters  with  the  Rabbi  Hasdai  of  Cordova,  announcing 
to  him  that  the  people  of  God,  the  Israel  Khazar,  ruled  over 
nine  nations  of  the  nineteen  of  the  Caucasus,  and  thirteen  of  the 
Black  Sea,  and  that  he  did  not  allow  the  Russians  to  descend 
the  Volga  to  ravage  the  territory  of  the  Caliph  of  Bagdad,  The 
Israelitish  Khazars  became  afterwards  mingled  with  the  Kha- 
raite  Jeivs,  and  the  IMoslem  Khazars  with  the  Tatars  of  the 
Crimea.  Among  the  vassal  nations  of  the  Khazars  enumerated 
by  the  Chagan  Joseph,  were  the  Bourtass  and  the  Bulgars  of 
the  Volga  the  latter,  kinsmen  of  the  Bulgars  who  were  sub- 
jected by  ihe  Danubian  Slavs,  and  apparently  nearly  related  to 
the  Tchouvaches,  were  a  mixture  of  Finnish,  Turkish,  and  even 
Slav  elements,  according  to  an  Arabian  account.  Sedentary, 
industrious,  and  destined  to  inherit  the  commercial  splendor 
of  the  Khazars,  they  blended  with  the  native  superstitions  the 
Islamism  which  was  preached  to  them  in  922  by  missionaries 
from  Bagdad,  and  possessed  in  the  loth  century  a  flourishing 
state.  Their  capital  was  Bolgary  or  the  "  Great  City,"  on  the 
junction  of  the  Volga  and  the  Kama.  They  also  owned  the 
cities  of  Bouliar  or  Biliarsk,  Souvar,  Krementchoug,  &c.  Their 
descendants  were  fused  with  the  Tatar  conquerors  of  the  13th 
century. 

The  Finnish  races,  even  more  than  the  Slavs,  are  the  real 
aborigines  of  Russia.  In  the  5th  century  «.c.  Herodotus  writes 
of  them  as  already  long  possessed  of  the  soil.  Everywhere  in 
these  wide  regions  the  traces  of  their  occupation  are  visible. 
At  different  periods  they  extended  from  the  Livorlan  Gulf  to 
the  Ourals,  and  from  the^  Icy  Ocean  to  the  Black  Sea.  They 
withdrew  at  various  times,  especially  from  the  5th  to  the  9th 
centuries,  to  allow  the  passage  of  the  great  migrations  and  of  the 
great  invasions  ;  but  in  the  loth  century  they  occupied,  with  the 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA.  2>Z 

Khazars,  the  shores  of  the  Sea  of  Azof  and  of  the  Caspian,  while 
tlie  Finns  of  Esthonia  lield  the  Lithuanians  in  check. 

The  Turkish  races,  on  the  contrary,  made  their  appearance 
much  later  in  Russia.  In  the  glh  century  the  Lower  Volga  and 
I  he  Lower  Oural  began  to  fall  a  prey  to  the  Patzinaks,  incor- 
rigible brigands  who  marched  over  the  bodies  of  the  Khazars 
to  establish  themselves  on  the  Lower  Dnieper.  After  them  ap- 
peared the  Polovtsi  or  Koumans,  the  Ouzes  or  Torques.  The 
invasion  of  the  Tatars  was  more  Turkish  than  Mongolian.  The 
nomads  vanished  or,  according  to  Nestor,  were  absorbed  by  new 
arrivals,  namely  the  Nogais,  formed  in  the  13th  century  of  the 
remnants  of  the  Polovtsi,  and  of  the  Turko-Kanglis,  at  present 
numbering  50,000;  the  Kirghis,  who  entered  Europe  about  1721, 
and  to-day  amount  to  about  82,000  souls  ;  the  Kalmucks,  wiio 
are  Mongols  not  Turks,  belong  to  the  (Eleutes  or  Western 
Mongols,  invaders  of  Russia  in  1636,  number  87,000  in  the 
provinces  of  Astrakhan,  Stavropol,  and  the  Don,  and  in  spite  of 
the  efforts  of  Christians  and  Mussulmans  have  remained  La- 
maists.  As  to  the  Tatars,  properly  so  called,  or  sedentary  Turks 
(more  or  less  a  mixture  of  Finnish  and  Mongol  elements),  who 
inhabit  the  governments  of  the  Volga,  Kazan,  and  Astrakhan,  as 
well  as  those  of  Stavropol  and  the  Crimea,  they  number  altogether 
about  1,420,000  heads. 


DIVISION   OF   THE   RUSSIANS   OF   TO-DAY   INTO   THREE   BRANCHES — 
HOW    RUSSIA    WAS    COLONIZED. 

In  the  time  of  Nestor  (end  of  the  nth  century),  the  Russian 
Slavs  confined  between  the  Lithuanians  on  the  west,  the  Finns 
on  the  north,  and  the  Turks  on  the  east,  hardly  occupied  one- 
fifth  part  of  Russia  in  Europe.  To-day  we  see  the  Russian 
race  extend  from  Finland  to  the  Oural,  from  the  Icy  Ocean  to 
the  Caucasus  and  Crimea,  amounting  to  56,000,000  men,  be- 
sides 3.000,000  colonists  in  the  Asiatic  provinces.  The  Letto- 
Lilhuanians  on  the  contrary  are  reduced  to  2,420,000  souls; 
the  Finns,  including  the  inhabitants  of  Finland,  to  less  than 
4.000,000  ;  and  the  Turko-Tatars  to  less  than  2,000,000.  The 
Russians  form  six-sevenths  of  the  population  of  Russia.  The 
proportions  are  more  than  reversed.  What  a  change  has  been 
wrought  in  ten  centuries  !  The  present  Russians  may  be 
divided  into  three  branches,  deriving  their  names  from  certain 
historical  circumstances,  i.  Tlie  name  of  White  Russia  is 
given  to  the  provinces  conquered  from  the  13th  to  the  14th 
century  by  the  Grand  Dukes  of  Lithuania.  These  were  the 
ancient  territories  of  the  Krivitches,  Polotchans,  Dregovitches, 


34.  /riSTORY  OF  RUSSIA 

Drevlians,  Doulebes,  now  forming  the  governments  of  Vitepsk, 
Mohilef,  and  Minsk.  The  governments  of  Kovno,  Grodno  and 
Wilna,  at  present  unequally  Russicized,  were  originally  Lithu- 
anian. The  Lithuanian  territories  of  Grodno,  Novogrodek  and 
Belostok  were  sometimes  called  Black  J^iissia.  2.  Little  Russia 
includes  the  country  of  the  ancient  Severians  and  Polians  in- 
creased by  colonies;  that  is,  the  governments  of  Kief,  Tcher- 
nigof,  Pultowa,  Kharkof,  Volhynia,  and  Podolia.  It  even  ex- 
tends beyond  the  frontiers  of  the  empire  into  Jicd  Hassia  or 
Old  Gallicia  (Galitch,  laroslavl,  Terebovl,  Zvenigorod,  Lemberg, 
or  Lvof),  belonging  to  Austria,  and  peopled  by  3,000,000  ot 
Ruthenians  or  Russians.  3.  Great  /•Russia  grouped  around  the 
ancient  Muscovy,  and  occupying  the  place  lield  in  the  gth  cen- 
tury by  many  Turkish  or  Finnish  tribes.  To  Great  Russia  be- 
long Northern  Russia  (Arkhangel),  Eastern  Russia  (the  Volga, 
Kazan,  Astrakhan),  and  New  Russia  or  South  Russia  (Cherson, 
Ekaterinoslaf,  Kharkof,  Odessa,  the  Crimea).  Great  Russia  as 
a  whole,  apart  from  Novgorod  and  Pskof,  was  won  from  foreign 
races  by  Russian  colonization.  It  was  a  colony  of  Kievian 
Russia,  and,  though  for  a  time  subjugated  by  the  Tatars,  was 
able  to  shake  off  their  yoke,  while  Kief  still  remained  a  Lithu- 
anian province.  It  continued  to  extend  its  conquests  in  the 
East ;  then  turning  to  the  West  in  the  17th  and  i8th  centuries, 
was  able  to  recover  White  Russia  and  Little  Russia. 

In  the  empire  the  White  Russians  number  3,000,000,  the 
Little  Russians  12,000,000,  and  the  Great  Russians  41,000,000. 
There  are  dialectical  differences  between  the  idioms  of  these 
three  families,  which  historical  and  literary  influences  easily  ex- 
plain. Some  writers  have  been  anxious  to  establish  the  existence 
of  a  profound  difference  between  Great  Russia  and  her  two 
neighbors.  They  have  reserved  the  name  of  Russians  and  the 
character  of  Slavs  for  the  White  Russians  and  the  Little  Russians, 
and  have  pretended  to  see  in  the  "  Muscovites  "  nothing  but 
descendants  of  Finns,  Turks  and  Tatars,  in  a  word  Turanians, 
Russian  only  in  language.  The  Muscovite  Empire,  founded  in 
the  midst  of  Vesses,  of  Mouromians,  and  of  Merians,  extended 
at  tlie  expense  of  the  Tchouvaches,  the  Mordvians,  Tatars  and 
Kirghiz,  with  its  two  capitals  Moscow  and  St.  Petersburg  in  the 
Tchoudic  region,  is  not,  if  these  writers  are  to  be  trusted,  even 
a  European  state.  A  more  careful  study  shows  us  that  Muscovy 
was  formed  in  the  first  place  by  the  migrations  of  Russian  col- 
onists, in  the  second  place  by  the  assimilation  of  certain  foreign 
races,  i.  When  the  steppes  of  the  south  became  the  prey  of 
Asiatic  nomads,  tlie  Russian  population  flowed  back  in  a  vast 
wave,  from  the  banks  of  the  Dnieper  to  the  Upper  and  Middle 
Volga.     We  see  the  princes  of  Souzdal  calling  to  their  aid  the 


MIS  TORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


35 


inhabitants  of  the  banks  of  the  Dnieper,  while  in  the  forests  of 
the  north  new  cities  are  constantly  founded  by  the  people  of 
Novgorod.  The  Russia  of  Kief  once  destroyed,  a  new  Russia 
begins  to  form  itself,  almost  out  of  the  same  elements,  at  the 
opposite  extremity  of  the  Oriental  plain.  Tiie  names  given  to 
the  new  towns  of  Souzdal  and  Muscovy  must  be  noticed.  There 
is  a  Vladimir  on  the  Kliazma  as  there  is  a  Vladimir  in  Volhynia, 
a  Zvenigorod  on  the  Lloskowa  as  on  the  Dniester,  a  Galitch  in 
Souzdal  as  in  Gallicia,  a  laroslavl  on  the  Volga  as  on  the  San. 
Souzdal  and  Riazan,  like  Kief,  have  their  Pereiaslavl ;  that  of 
the  former  bears  the  title  of  Zaliesski,  or  "  bevond  the  forests." 
In  a  different  land  and  under  another  sky  the  emigrants  clearly 
tried  to  restore  the  name,  if  they  could  not  find  the  image  of 
their  native  countrv.  Is  it  not  thus  that  the  English  in  America 
founded  New  York,  and  the  French  New  Orleans  ?  Moreover, 
when  we  have  seen  a  population  of  3,000,000  Russians  gather  in 
the  Caucasus  and  in  Siberia — when  we  see  that  the  steppes  of 
the  south  which  were  deserts  in  the  time  of  Catherine  II.  reckon 
to-day  their  5,000,000  to  6,000,000  inhabitants, — it  is  easy  to  un- 
derstand how,  at  a  more  distant  epoch,  the  basin  of  the  Volga  was 
colonized.  As  for  saving  that  ihe  inhabitants  of  New  Russia 
are  nothing  but  Finns  and  Russified  Turks,  one  might  as  well 
pretend  that  the  30,000,000  or  40,000.000  of  North  America  are 
Red-skins  who  have  learnt  English  and  embraced  Protestantism. 

We  must  recognize  that  the  Russian,  almost  as  much  as  the 
Anglo-Saxon,  has  the  instinct  which  drives  men  to  emigrate  and 
found  colonies.  The  Russians  do  in  the  far  East  of  Europe 
what  the  Anglo-Saxons  do  in  the  far  West  of  America.  They 
belong  to  one  of  the  great  races  of  pioneers  and  backwoodsmen. 
All  the  history  of  the  Russian  people,  from  the  foundation  of 
Moscow,  is  that  of  their  advance  into  tiie  forest,  into  the  Black 
Land,  into  the  prairie.  The  Russian  has  his  trappers  and  set- 
tlers in  the  Cossacks  of  the  Dnieper,  Don,  and  Tereck  ;  in  the 
tireless  fur-hunters  of  Siberia  ;  in  the  gold-diggers  of  the  Oural 
and  the  Altai ;  in  the  adventurous  monks  who  ever  lead  the  way, 
founding  in  regions  always  more  distant,  a  monastery  which  is 
to  be  the  centre  of  a  town  ;  lastly,  in  the  Raskolnicks,  or  Dissen- 
ters, Russian  Puritans  or  Mormons,  who  are  persecuted  by  laws 
human  and  divine,  and  seek  from  forest  to  forest  the  Jerusalem 
of  their  dreams.  The  level  plains  of  Russia  naturally  tempted 
men  to  migration.  The  mountain  keeps  her  own,  the  mountain 
calls  her  wanderers  to  return;  while  the  steppe,  stretching  away 
to  the  dimmest  horizon,  invites  you  to  advance,  to  ride  at  advent- 
ure, to  "go  where  the  eyes  glance." 

The  flat  and  monotonous  soil  has  no  hold  on  its  inhabitants  ; 
they  wiU  fiud  as  bare  a  landscape  anywhere      As  for  their  hovel, 


3D  UISTOR  Y  OF  k USSIA. 

how  can  they  care  for  their  hovel?  it  is  burned  clown  ft 
often.  The  Western  expression,  the  "  ancestral  roof,"  has  no 
meaning  for  the  Russian  peasant.  The  native  of  Great  Russia, 
accustomed  to  live  on  little,  and  endure  the  extremes  of  heat  and 
cold,  was  born  to  brave  the  dangers  and  privations  of  the  emi- 
grant's life.  VViih  his  crucifix,  his  axe  in  his  belt,  and  his  boots 
slung  behind  his  back,  he  will  go  to  the  end  of  the  Eastern  world. 
However  weak  may  be  the  infusion  of  the  Russian  element  in 
a:i  Asiatic  population,  it  cannot  transmute  itself  nor  disappear — ■ 
it  must  become  the  dominant  power. 

History    has    helped    to    make     this    movement    irresistible. 
When  the  Russian  took  refuge  in  Souzdal,  he  was  compelled  to 
clear  and   cultivate  the  very  worst  land  of  his  future  domain,  for 
the    Tchernoziom  was  then  overrun   by  nomads.     How  could   he 
escape  the  temptation  to  go  and  look  in  the  south  for  more  fer- 
tile soil  which  without   labor  or  manure  would  yield  four  times 
as  great  a  harvest?     Villages  and  whole  cantons  in   Muscovy 
have  been  known  to  empty  themselves  in  a  moment,  the  peasants 
marching  in  a  body,  as  in  the  old  times  of  the  invasions,  towards 
the  "  Black  Soil,"  the  "Warm  Soil"  of  the  south.     Government 
and  the  landholders  were  obliged  to  use  the  most  terrible  means 
to  stop  these  migrations  of  the  husbandmen.     Without  these  re- 
pressive measures  the   steppes  would  have   been   colonized   two 
centuries  earlier  than  they  actually  were.     The  report  that   the 
Tzar  authorized  the  emigration— a  forged  ukase,  a  rumor— any- 
thing  was    enough    to   uproot   whole    peoples   from    the    soil. 
The  peasant's  passion  for  wandering  explains  the  development 
of  Cossack  life  in  the  plains  of   the  south  ;  it  explains  the  legis- 
lation which  from  the  beginning  of  the  i6th  centurv  chained  the 
serf  to  the  glebe  and  bound  him  to  the  soil.     In  'the  13th  cen- 
tury,   on    the  other    hand,    the    peasant  was  free.     His    prince 
encouraged  him  to  emigrate,  and  hence  came  the  colonization 
of  Eastern  Russia. 

2.  The  Russian  race,  it  is  true,  has  the  facultv  of  absorbing 
certain  aboriginal  stocks.  The  Little  Russians  assimilated  the 
remnants  of  Turkish  tribes,  the  Great  Russians  swallowed  up 
the  Einnish  nations  of  the  East.  There  must,  however,  be  no 
religious  barrier  between  the  conquerors  and  the  conquered,  for 
the  Tchoud,  while  still  heathen,  is  easily  assimilated;  but  once 
converted  to  Islamism,  he  is  a  refractory  element  that  can 
scarcely  be  brought  to  order.  A  baptized  Tchouvach  inevitably 
becomes  a  Russian,  a  circumcised  Tchouvach  inevitably  be- 
comes a  Tatar.  We  have  seen  the  Vesses,  the  Mouromians, 
the  IMerians  disappear  without  leaving  a  trace  ;  the  Tchouvaches, 
the  Mordvians,  the  Tcheremisses  become  more  Russian  every 
day.     The  successive  stages,  and  the  steps  which  lead  to  the 


HIS  TOR  y  OF  K  USSIA.  3  7 

accomplishment  of  this   change,  were   lately  observed  by  Mr. 
Wallace,  an  English  traveller  : — 

"  iJuring  my  wanderings  in  these  northern  provinces  I  have 
found  villages  in  every  stage  of  Russification.  In  one  every- 
thing seemed  thorousfhlv  Finnish  :  the  inhabitants  had  a  reddish- 
^live  skin,  very  high  cheek-bones,  obliquely-set  eyes,  and  a  pe- 
culiar costume  ;  none  of  the  women  and  very  few  of  the  men 
could  understand  Russian,  and  any  Russian  who  visited  the 
place  was  regarded  as  a  foreigner.  In  a  second  there  were  al- 
ready some  Russian  inhabitants  ;  the  others  had  lost  something 
of  their  pure  Finnish  type,  many  of  the  men  had  discarded 
the  old  costume  and  spoke  Russian  fluently,  and  a  Russian 
visitor  was  no  longer  shunned.  In  a  third,  the  Finnish  type 
was  still  further  weakened  ;  all  the  men  spoke  Russian,  and 
nearly  all  the  women  understood  it ;  the  old  male  costume  had 
entirely  disappeared,  and  the  old  female  costume  was  rapidly 
following  it,  and  the  intermarriage  with  the  Russian  population 
was  no  longer  rare.  In  a  fourth,  intermarriage  had  almost  com- 
pletely done  its  work,  and  the  old  Finnish  element  could  be  de- 
tected merely  in  certain  peculiarities  of  physiognomy  and  ac- 
cent "  (vol.  i.  p.  231). 

The  density  and  resisting  power  of  these  ancient  peoples, 
scattered  over  such  immense  spaces  of  the  continent,  must 
have  been  comparatively  slight,  while  the  Russian  emigrants 
came  on  in  vast  waves,  or  stole  in  like  the  constant  dropping  of 
water.  The  aboriginals  must  often  have  recoiled  and  concen- 
trated their  forces,  thus  leaving  room  and  verge  for  the  pure 
Slavonic  element.  The  more  or  less  considerable  mixture  of 
races,  on  the  other  hand,  cannot  but  have  influenced  the  physi- 
cal type,  character,  and  powers  of  the  Great  Russian  in  a  pecul- 
iar wav.  The  bright  Slavonic  nature,  when  blended  with  tribes 
of  a  duller  cast,  gained  in  strength  and  weight  what  it  lost  in 
vivacity.  Hence,  of  all  the  Slavonic  peoples,  the  Great  Rus- 
sian alone  has  been  able  to  create  and  to  maintain,  in  face  of 
3very  obstacle,  a  vast  and  durable  empire. 


38  HISTOR  Y  OF  R  CrsSSA. 

CHAPTER  ITT. 

PRIMITIVE    RUSSIA  :    THE   SLAVS. 

Religion  of  the  Slavs — Funeral  rites — Domestic  and  i)olitical  customs  .  the 
family,  the  w/>  or  commune,  the  volost  or  canton,  the  tribe — Cities — In  '.us- 
try — Agriculture. 


RELIGION    OF    THE    SLAVS FUNERAL    RITES. 

The  religion  of  the  Russian  Slavs,  like  that  of  all  Aryan 
races,  was  founded  on  nature  and  its  phenomena.  It  was  a 
pantheism  which,  as  its  original  meaning  was  lost,  necessarily 
became  a  polytheism.  Just  as  the  Homeric  deities  were  pre- 
ceded by  the  gods  of  Hesiod,  Ouranos  and  Demeter,  or  Heaven 
and  Earth,  so  the  most  ancient  gods  of  the  Russian  Slavs  seem 
to  have  been  Svarog,  the  heaven,  and  "  our  mother,  the  dank 
earth."  Then  new  conceptions  appeared  in  the  first  rank  in  the 
historic  period,  i.  Ancient  poets  and  chroniclers  (see  the  Song 
of  Igor,  and  Nestor)  have  preserved  to  us  the  names  of  Dagh- 
Bog,  god  of  the  sun,  father  of  nature  ;  Voloss,  a  solar  deity,  and, 
like  the  Greek  Apollo,  inspirer  of  poets  and  protector  of  flocks  ; 
Pcnm^  god  of  thunder,  another  personification  of  the  Sun  at  wai 
with  the  Cloud  ;  Stribog^  the  Russian  ^olus,  father  of  winds, 
protector  of  warriors  ;  Khors,  a  solar  god  ;  Seviargl  ^.Ttdjlfokoc/i, 
whose  attributes  are  unknown.  2.  In  some  of  the  early  hymns 
they  sing  of  Koupalo  or  larilo,  god  of  the  summer  sun,  and  Did- 
Laih),  goddess  of  fecundity.  3.  In  the  epic  songs  are  celebrated 
Sviaiogor,  the  giant-hero,  whose  weight  the  earth  can  scarcely 
bear;  Mikoula  Selianhiovitch,  the  good  laborer,  a  kind  of  Slav 
Triptolemus,  the  divine  personification  of  the  race's  passionate 
love  of  agriculture,  striking  with  the  iron  share  of  his  plough 
the  stones  of  the  furrow,  with  a  noise  that  is  heard  tliree  days' 
journey  off  ;  Volga  VseslaviicJi^  a  Proteus  who  can  take  all  man- 
ner of  shapes;  Polkan,  a  centaur;  Doiuiai,  Don  Ivanoviich, 
Dnieper  Korolevitch^  who  are  rivers ;  then  a  series  of  heroes, 
conquerors  of  dragons  like  Ilia  of  Moii7'07n,  who  seem  to  be  solar 
gods  degraded  to  the  rank  of  paladins.  4.  In  the  stories  which 
beguile  the  village  evening  assemblies,  a]5pear  Aforena,  god. 
dess  of  death;  Kochtchei  imA  Aforoz,  personifications  of  the  bit- 
ter winter  weather  ;  Jyaba-Yaga,  an  ogress  who  lives  on  the  edge 
of  the  forest,  in  a  hut  built  on  the  foot  of  a  fowl,  and  swayed  by 
the  winds  ^  and  the  King  of  the  iSca,  who  entices  sailors  to  his 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA.  3^ 

watery  palaces.  5.  Popular  superstition  continues  to  people 
nature  witli  good  and  baci  spirits  :  the  Russalki,  water  sprites  ; 
rodianoi,  river  genii  ;  the  Licchii  and  the  IJcsnik,  forest  de- 
mons ;  the  Domovoi  (<iom,  house),  the  brownie  of  the  domestic 
hearth ;  and  the  l'n}/i}>ires,  ghosts  who  steal  by  night  from  their 
tombs,  and  suck  the  blood  of  the  living  during  their  sleep. 

Since  Mythology  reproduces  under  so  many  forms  the  strug- 
gle of  the  heroes  of  the  light  with  the  monsters  of  darkness,  it  is 
possible  that  she  may  have  admitted  a  bad  jjrinciple  at  variance 
with  a  good  principle,  an  ill-doing  god,  of  whom  Morena,  Koch- 
tchei,  Baba-Yaga,  the  dragon,  the  mountain-serpent,  are  only 
types.  We  cannot  find  any  positive  confirmation  of  this  hypo- 
thesis, as  far  as  the  Russian  Slavs  are  concerned,  but  Helmold 
asserts  that  the  Baltic  Slavs  recognize  Biclibog,  the  White  God, 
and  Tc/wnioliog,  the  Black  God. 

The  Russians  do  not  seem  to  have  had  either  temples  or 
priests  in  the  proper  sense  of  the  word.  They  erected  rude 
idols  on  the  hills,  and  venerated  the  oak  consecrated  to  Perun  ; 
the  leaders  of  the  people  offered  the  sacrifices.  They  also  had 
sorcerers,  or  magicians,  analogous  to  the  Tatar  Shamans,  whose 
counsels  appear  to  have  had  great  weight. 

It  has  been  the  study  of  the  Russian  Church  to  combat  pa- 
ganism by  purifying  the  superstitions  she  cannot  uproot.  She 
has  turned  to  account  any  similarity  in  names  or  symbols.  She 
has  been  able  to  honor  Saint  Dmitri  and  Saint  George,  the  slay- 
ers of  dragons  ;  Saint  John,  who  thunders  in  the  spring;  Saint 
Elias,  who  recalls  Ilia  of  Mourom  ;  Saint  Blaise  or  Vlaise,  who 
has  succeeded  to  Voloss  as  guardian  of  the  Hocks;  Saint  Nich- 
olas, or  Mikoula,  patron  of  laborers,  like  Mikoula  Selianino- 
vitch ;  Saint  Cosmas,  or  Kouzma,  protector  of  blacksmiths,  who 
has  taken  the  place  of  kouzucts,  the  mysterious  blacksmith  forger 
of  the  destinies  of  man  in  the  mountains  of  the  north.  In  some 
popular  songs  the  Virgin  Mary  replaces  Did-Lado,  and  then 
Saint  John  succeeds  to  Perun  or  larilo.  Who  can  fail  to  recog- 
nize the  myth  of  the  spring  and  the  fruitful  rains  accompanied 
by  thunder,  in  this  White  Russian  song  that  is  repeated  at  the 
festival  of  St.  John  ?  "John  and  Mary — bathed  on  the  hill — 
while  John  bathed — the  earth  shook — while  Mary  bathed — the 
earth  germinated."  The  Church  has  taken  care  to  consecrate 
to  the  Saints  of  her  calendar  or  to  purify  by  holy  rites  the  sacred 
trees  and  mysterious  wells  to  which  crowds  of  pilgrims  contin- 
ued to  flock. 

Russian  Slavs  certainly  had  visions  of  another  life,  but,  like 
all  primitive  peoples,  they  looked  forward  to  a  life  which  was 
gross  and  material.  In  the  7th  century  among  the  Wends,  Ger- 
man Slavs,  women  refused  to  survive  their  husbands,  and  burned 


40  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

themselves  on  their  funeral  pile.  This  ancient  Aryan  custom 
must  have  been  in  vigor  among  the  Russian  Slavs  at  an  equally 
early  epoch.  The  Arabic  writer,  Ibn-Foszlan,  gives  an  account 
of  the  Russian  funeral  rites  which  he  himself  witnessed  in  the 
9th  century.  For  ten  days  the  friends  of  the  deceased  bewailed 
him,  and  intoxicated  themselves  over  his  corpse.  Then  the 
men-servants  were  asked,  which  of  them  would  be  buried  with 
his  master?  One  of  them  replied  in  the  affirmative,  and  was  in- 
instantly  strangled.  The  same  question  was  also  put  to  the 
women-servants,  one  of  whom  likewise  devoted  herself.  She 
was  then  washed,  adorned,  and  treated  like  a  princess,  and  did 
nothing  but  drink  and  sing.  On  the  appointed  day  the  dead 
man  was  laid  in  a  boat,  with  part  of  his  arms  and  his  garments. 
The  man-servant  was  slain  with  the  favorite  horse  and  other  do- 
mestic animals  and  was  laid  in  the  boat,  to  which  the  young  girl 
was  then  led.  She  took  off  her  jewels,  and  with  a  glass  of  kvass 
in  her  hand  sang  a  song  that  she  would  only  too  willingly  have 
prolonged.  "  All  at  once,"  says  the  eye-witness,  "  the  old 
woman  who  accompanied  her,  and  whom  they  called  the  angel 
of  death,  ordered  her  to  drink  quickly,  and  to  enter  into  the 
cabin  of  the  boat,  where  lay  the  dead  body  of  her  master.  At 
these  words  she  changed  color,  and  as  she  made  some  difficul- 
ties about  entering,  the  old  woman  seized  her  by  the  hair,  drag- 
ged her  in,  and  entered  with  her.  The  men  immediately  began 
to  beat  their  shields  with  clubs  to  prevent  the  other  girls  from 
hearing  the  cries  of  their  companion,  which  might  prevent  them 
from  one  day  dying  for  their  masters."  While  the  funeral  pile 
blazed,  one  of  the  Russians  said  to  our  narrator,  "  You  Arabs 
are  fools  :  you  hide  in  the  earth  the  man  you  have  loved  best, 
and  there  he  becomes  the  prey  of  worms.  We,  on  the  contrary, 
burn  him  up  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  that  he  may  the  quicker 
enter  paradise."  Nestor  found  the  rite  among  the  Russian 
Slaves.  The  excavations  made  in  a  great  number  of  koiirgans 
(barrows)  confirm  his  testimonv.  The  discoveries  recently  made 
in  the  tombs  of  Novgorod  by  M.  Ivanouski,  prove  that  the 
Slavs  of  Ilmen  had  preserved  or  adopted  the  custom  of  bury- 
ing their  dead.  In  these  tombs  are  found  a  great  quantity  of 
arms,  instruments,  jewels,  animals,  bones,  and  grains  of  wheat ; 
from  which  we  may  conclude  that  the  Russian  Slavs  expected 
the  future  life  to  be  an  exact  continuation  of  the  present  one, 
and  that  they  surrounded  the  dead  with  all  the  objects  that  here 
contributed  to  his  happiness.  The  examination  of  the  human 
bones  preserved  in  the  kourgans  also  confirms  the  historical  ac- 
counts, and  proves  that  servants  and  female  slaves  were  sacri- 
ficed over  the  corpse. 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


4« 


DOMESTIC    AND    POIJTICAL   CUSTOMS  :   THE    FAMILY  ;   THE   MIR   OR 
COMMUNE  ;    THE   VOLOST   OR    CANTON  J    THE  TRIBE. 

The  Slav  family  was  founded  on  the  patriarchal  principle. 
The  father  was  the  absolute  head,  and  after  his  death  the  power 
passed  to  the  eldest  of  the  members  composing  it.:  first,  to  the 
brothers  of  the  deceased,  if  he  had  any  under  his  care,  then 
successively  to  his  sons,  beginning  with  the  eldest.  The  chief 
had  the  same  rights  over  the  women  who  entered  his  family  b); 
marriage,  as  over  its  natural  members. 

Their  domestic  manners  seemed  to  have  been  very  barbarous. 
The  monk  Nestor  may  be  suspected  of  exaggeration  wherever 
he  describes  the  condition  of  pagan  Russia,  which  baptism  was  to 
regenerate.  There  is  no  exception  to  this  exaggerated  censure 
but  in  the  case  of  the  Polians.  "  The  Drevlians,"  he  tells  us, 
"  lived  after  the  manner  of  wild  beasts.  They  cut  each  other's 
throats,  ate  impure  food,  declined  all  marriage-ties  ;  they  ra\- 
ished  and  stole  voung    srirls  who  came  for   water  to  the   foun- 

tains The  Radimitches,  the  Viatitches,  the  Severians  lived 

like  wild  animals  in  the  forests,  were  fed  on  all  sorts  of  horrors, 
and  spoke  of  all  kinds  of  shameful  things  in  the  presence  of 
their  sisters-in-law  and  relatives.  .  .  .  They  captured  women, 
who  were  willing  parties  to  the  transaction,  often  two  or  three  at 
a  time." 

Tiie  charges  which  Nestor  chiefly  urges  against  the  Slavs, 
are  the  capture  of  women  and  polygamy.  This  latter  charge  is 
completely  established  ;  as  to  the  capture,  it  might  be  symbol- 
ical. In  the  text  quoted  above  we  see  the  women  "came"  to 
the  fountain,  and  that  they  were  parties  to  the  transaction. 
This  capture,  if  we  take  it  for  a  simple  ceremony,  may  imply,  in 
very  early  times  the  existence  of  abduction  by  violence.  To- 
day, the  marriage-customs  of  Russia  still  preserve  traces  of 
these  ancient  usages.  There  is  still  a  pretended  capture  of  the 
woman  ;  a  custom  to  be  found  in  the  Germany  of  the  8th  cen- 
tury, where  the  very  name  of  marriage  has  a  pointed  significa- 
tion— Braiiilaiift,  the  flight  of  the  bride.  The  songs  at  Russian 
weddings  also  imply  the  existence  of  a  time  when  the  maiden 
was  bought.  One  of  these  songs  accuses  the  kindred  of  avarice  : 
"  Thy  brother — the  accursed  Tatar — has  sold  his  sister  for  a 
piece  of  silver." 

Some  historians  have  thought,  with  Karamsin,  that  the  Slavs 
held  women  in  less  consideration  than  the  Germans  did,  and  in 
fact  "  treated  them  as  slaves."  We  may  doubt  if  there  was  so 
great  a  difference  between  the  two  nations.  The  chronicles 
speak  of  Lybed,  sister  of  Kii,  the  fabulous  founder  of  Kief, 
dividing  her  paternal  inheritance   with    her  brothers,  and  of 


42  HISTORY  OP  RUSSIA. 

Princess  Olga  becoming  heir  and  avenger  of  her  husband  and 
guardian  of  his  son.  The  epic  songs  show  us  many  bold  heroines 
side  by  side  with  the  heroes  of  the  Kievian  cycle,  and  mothers 
of  heroes  surrounded  with  wonderful  luxury  and  extraordinary 
honors.  The  excavations  of  the  kourgans  show  us  skeletons  of 
women  richly  ornamented  with  jewels. 

The  commune,  or  ;;///•,  was  only  the  expansion  of  the  family  ;  i'v 
was  subject  to  the  authority  of  the  elders  of  each  household, 
who  assembled  in  a  council  or  vctcIiL'.  The  village  lands  were 
held  in  common  by  all  the  members  of  the  association  ;  the  in- 
dividual only  possessed  his  harvest,  and  the  dvo?-  or  enclosure 
immediately  surrounding  his  house.  This  primitive  condition 
of  property,  existing  in  Russia  up  to  the  present  day,  was 
once  common  to  all  luu'opean  peoples. 

The  communes  nearest  together  formed  a  group  called  volosi 
ox pagost  (canton,  parish).  The  volost  was  governed  by  a  council 
formed  of  the  elders  of  the  communes  :  one  of  these  elders,  either 
by  hereditary  right,  age,  or  election,  was  recognized  as  more 
powerful  than  the  rest,  and  became  chief  of  the  canton.  His 
authority  seems  much  to  have  resembled  that  of  Ulysses  over 
the  numerous  kings  of  little  Ithaca.  In  times  of  danger,  the 
volosts  of  the  same  tribe  could  elect  a  temporary  head,  but  de- 
cline to  submit  to  a  general  and  permanent  ruler.  The  Kmper- 
or  Maurice  had  already  observed  that  passion  for  liberty  among 
the  Slavs,  which  made  them  detest  all  sovereignty.  The  Rus- 
sian Slavs  easily  rose  from  the  idea  of  a  commune  to  that  of  a 
canton,  with  a  chief  chosen  from  the  elders  of  the  family;  in  an 
emergency  they  might  permit  a  temporary  confederation  of  all 
the  cantons  of  one  tribe  (dlemia),  but  we  never  find  that  there 
was  a  prince  of  the  Severians,  Polians,  or  Radimitches.  Only 
princes  of  the  volost  could  exist  among  them,  like  the  prince  of 
Korosthenes  in  the  legend  of  Olga.  The  idea  of  the  unity  of  a 
tribe,  and  a  fortiori  the  unity  of  the  Russian  nation,  was  abso- 
lutely foreign  to  the  race.  I'he  ideas  of  government  and  of  the 
State  had  to  come  to  them  from  without. 


TOWNS — TRADE — AGRICULTURE, 

Nestor  declares  that  the  Russian  Slavs,  for  the  most  part, 
"  lived  in  forests  like  the  wild  beast."  Karamsin  and  Schloezer 
have  concluded  from  this  that  they  had  no  towns.  Now  there 
exist  a  number  of  monuments  in  Russia  which  have  for  long 
puzzled  archaeologists.  There  are  the  gorodichtchifs  (from  gorod, 
town),  enclosures  formed  by  the  earth  being  thrown  up,  and  these 
we  find  invariably  on  the  steep  bank  of  a  watercourse,  or  on  a 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


43 


» 


small  hill.  M.  Samokvassof,  who  has  explored  this  very  country 
of  the  Severians,  described  by  Nestor  as  living  wholly  in  forests, 
has  been  able  to  prove  that  these  gorodic/itc/ies  are  the  oppida, 
the  primitive  towns  of  Russia.  In  the  government  of  Tcherni- 
gof  alone,  M.  Samokvassof  has  reckoned  160  ;  in  that  of  Koursk. 
50.  We  may  calculate  from  this  that  numbers  exist  in  Russia, 
and  that  every  volost  had  at  least  one.  About  these  earih-en- 
closures,  which  were  capped  by  wooden  palisades  or  hedges  of 
osier,  and  were  the  common  means  of  defence  for  each  group  of 
families,  we  usually  find  grouped,  as  in  a  cemetery,  the  kourgaus 
or  tumuli  of  the  dead. 

The  excavations  made,  either  in  iho.  kourgaus  or  in  the  soil  of 
the  gonhiic/itch.'s,  have  shown  us  the  Slavs  were  more  civilized 
than  Nestor  supposed.  Vessels  of  potiery,  tolerably  well  de- 
signed, iron  and  bronze,  gold  and  silver  objects,  glass,  false 
pearls,  rattles,  prove  that  they  had  a  certain  amount  of  trade, 
and  a  fairly  extensive  commerce,  particularly  with  Asia.  Orien- 
tal coins  have  been  dug  up,  dating  from  699,  or  near  two  hun- 
dred years  before  the  arrival  of  the  Varangians.  There  are  a 
great  number  of  these  coins  in  the  country.  Near  Novgorod  a 
vase  was  discovered,  containing  about  7000  roubles'  worth  of  this 
earlv  monev.  The  fame  of  the  swords  made  bv  the  Russian 
Slavs  extended  to  Arabia.  Nestor  relates  that  the  Khazars  im- 
posed a  tribute  of  swords  on  the  Polians.  When  the  latter 
brought  the  arms  to  the  Khazars,  they  were  afraid,  and  said  to 
their  princes,  "  Our  swords  have  only  one  edge — these  have  two. 
We  tremble  lest  one  day  this  people  should  levy  a  tribute  on  us 
and  other  tribes." 

Agriculture  was  the  favorite  occupation  of  the  Slavs.  Nearly 
all  their  deities  are  of  an  agricultural  character.  The  favorite 
heroes  of  their  epic  cycle,  Mikoula  and  Ilia,  were  the  sons  of 
laborers.  Thev  had  the  more  likino;  for  field  life,  as  the  serfasG 
of  the  glebe  was  still  unknown  amongst  them.  It  has  been  said 
that  the  Germans  borrowed  the  plough  from  the  Slavs,  and  that 
the  German  name  oi pJJug  is  derived  from  the  ^]a.\ ploug.  With 
the  wax  and  honey  of  their  hives,  the  corn  of  the  Tchernoziom, 
and  the  furs  of  the  north,  the  Russians  carried  on  a  great  trade. 
Their  need  of  strangers,  together  with  a  sociable  instinct,  natu- 
ral to  primitive  races,  made  them  very  hospitable  ;  it  was  even 
permitted  to  steal  for  the  benefit  of  the  unexpected  guest.  A 
peaceful  race,  devoted  to  liberty,  music,  and  dancing,  appears 
in  the  idyllic  picture  painted  for  us  of  the  early  Slavs.  The 
Emperor  Maurice,  on  the  contrary,  who  had  had  dealings  with 
all  kinds  of  adventurous  tribes,  assures  us  that  they  were  war- 
like, cruel  in  battle,  full  of  savage  wiles,  able  to  conceal  them- 
selves in  places   where  it  seemed  impossible  their  bodies  could 


^  HISTOR  Y  QF  R  USSIA. 

be  hidden,  or  to  lie  in  ambush  in  streams  for  hours  together,  the 

"Vater  over  their  heads,  breathing  by  means  of  a  ^(z^i^'j..  Their 
armor  was  defective,  they  had  no  breast-plates,  they  fought  on 
foot,  were  naked  to  the  waist,  and  had  for  weapons,  pikes,  large 
shields,  wooden  bows,  poisoned  arrows,  and  lassoes  to  catch  their 
victims.  This  sketch  specially  applies  to  the  invaders  of  the 
Roman  provinces  of  the  Danube.  It  is  probable  that_  these  ag- 
ricultural races  had  in  general  a  military  organization  inferior  to 
that  of  their  Turkish  and  Scandinavian  neighbors  who  lived  by 
plunder.  The  imperfection  of  their  political  condition,  their 
minute  division  into  clans  and  volosis,  the  incessant  warfare  of 
canton  with  canton,  delivered  them  up,  defenceless,  to  their  in- 
vaders. Whilst  the  Slavs  of  the  south  paid  tribute  to  the  Kha- 
zars,  the  Slavs  of  Ilmen,  exhausted  by  their  divisions,  decided 
on  calling  in  the  Varangians.  "  '  Let  us  seek,'  they  said,  '  a 
prince  who  will  govern  us  and  reason  with  us  justly.'  Then," 
continues  Nestor,  "  the  Tchouds,*  the  Slavs  (Novgorod),  the 
Krivitches,  and  other  confederate  races,  said  to  the  princes  of 
Varangia,  '  Our  land  is  great  and  fruitful,  but  it  lacks  order  and 
justice  ;  come  and  take  possession,  and  govern  us.' " 

*The  Tchouds  here  mentioned  are  rather  Slavs  who  had  coloniaed  the 
Tchoud  country  about  Pskof  and  Izborsk. 


HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USS/A.  45 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  VARANGIANS  :    FORMATION     OF    RUSSIA ;     THE     FIRST   EXPEDI- 
TIONS  AGAINST   CONSTANTINOPLE,  862-972. 

The  Northmen  of  Russia — Origin  and  customs  of  the  Varangians — The  first 
Russian  princes:  Rurik,  Oleg,  Igor — Expeditions  against  Constantinople 
— Olga — Christianity  in  Russia— Sviatoslaf — The  Danube  disputed  be- 
tween the  Russians  and  Greeks. 


NORTHMEN    IN   RUSSIA — ORIGIN    AND    CUSTOMS    OF   THE   VARAN- 
GIANS. 

Who  were  these  Varangians  ?  To  what  race  did  they  be- 
long? No  questions  in  the  early  history  of  Russia  are  more 
eagerly  debated.  After  more  than  a  century  of  controversy,  the 
various  views  have  been  reduced  to  three  : — 

1.  The  Varangians  were  of  Scandinavian  origin,  and  it  was 
they  who  imposed  the  name  of  Russia  on  the  Slav  countries.  A 
most  weighty  argument  in  support  of  this  theory  is  the  large 
number  of  Scandinavian  names  in  the  list  of  Varangian  princes 
reigning  in  Russia.  The  Emperor  Constantine  Porphyrogenitus, 
speaking  of  Russia,  makes  a  distinction  between  the  Slavs  and 
the  Russians  proper.  Describing  the  cataracts  of  the  Dnieper, 
he  gives  to  each  the  Russian  and  the  S/a7'  name.  Now  these 
Russian  names  may  nearly  all  be  understood  by  reference  to 
Scandinavian  roots.  Liutprand,  speaking  of  the  Russians,  ex- 
presses himself  in  these  terms  : — "  Grceci  vocant  Russos  .  .  .  iios 
vero  A'ormannos."  The  Annals  of  Saint  Bertimis  say,  that  the 
Emperor  Theophilus  recommended  some  Russian  envoys  to 
Louis  le  De'bonnaire,  but  he,  taking  them  for  Norman  spies, 
threw  them  into  prison.  Finally,  the  first  Russian  Code  of  Laws, 
compiled  by  laroslaf,  presents  a  striking  analogy  with  the  Scan- 
dinavian la'ws.  The  Partisans  of  this  opinion  place  the  mother 
country  of  the  Russians  in  Sweden,  where  ihey  point  particulaHy 
to  a  spot  called  Roslog,  and  associations  of  oarsmen  called  Ros- 
lagen.     At  the  present  dav  the  Finns  call  the  Swedes  Rootzt. 

2.  The  Varangians  were  Slavs,  and  came  either  from  the 
Slav  shores  of  the  Baltic,  or  from  some  Scandinavian  regiou 
where  the  Slavs  had  founded  a  colony.  The  word  Russia  is 
not  of  Swedish  origin ;  it  is  applied  very  early  to  the  country  of 
i-ho  Hnieper.     To  come  from  Rouss  or  to  go  to  Rouss  are  ex- 


46  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

pressions  to  be  met  with  in  tlie  ancient  documents,  and  Rousi 
there  signifies  the  country  of  Kief.  Arabic  writers  give  the 
name  of  Russians  to  a  nation  they  consider  very  numerous,  and 
they  mean  in  this  case,  not  Scandinavians,  but  indigenous 
Slavs. 

3.  The  Varangians  were  not  a  nation,  but  a  band  of  war- 
riors formed  of  exiled  adventurers,  some  Slavs,  other  Scandina- 
vians. The  partisans  of  this  opinion  show  us  the  Slav  and 
Scandinavian  races  from  very  early  times,  in  frequent  commer- 
cial and  political  relations.'  The  leaders  of  the  band  were 
generally  Scandinavian,  but  part  of  the  soldiers  were  Slav. 
This  hypothesis,  which  diminishes  the  Norman  element  in  the 
Varangians,  serves  to  explain  how  the  establishment  of  these 
adventurers  in  the  country  but  little  affected  the  Slavs  of  Jhe 
Ilmen  and  the  Dnieper.  It  explains,  too,  the  rapid  absorption 
of  the  new  comers  in  the  conquered  race,  an  absorption  so  com- 
plete that  the  grandson  of  Rurik,  Sviatoslaf,  already  bears  a 
Slav  name,  while  his  great-grandson,  Vladimir,  remains  in  the 
memory  of  the  people  as  the  type  of  Slav  prince.  Whether  the 
Varangians  were  pure  Scandinavians,  or  whether  they  were 
mingled  with  Slav  adventurers,  it  seems  certain  that  the  former 
element  predominated,  and  that  we  may  identify  these  men 
from  the  North  with  the  sea-kings  so  celebrated  in  the  West 
during  the  decay  of  the  Carolings.  M.  Samokvassof  has  lately 
opened,  near  Tnhernigof,  the  black  iovib  containing  the  bones 
and  arms  of  an  unknown  prince  who  lived  in  the  10th  century, 
and  was  probably  a  Varangian,  His  coat-of-mail  and  pointed 
helmet  completely  resemble  the  arms  of  the  Norman  warriors. 
The  Russian  princes  that  we  find  in  the  early  miniatures,  are 
clothed  and  armed  like  the  Norman  chiefs  in  the  Bayeux 
Tapestry  of  Queen  Matilda.  It  is  therefore  not  surprising  that, 
in  our  own  age,  art  has  made  almost  identical  representations 
of  Rurik  on  the  monument  lately  erected  at  Novgorod,  and  of 
William  the  Conqueror  on  the  monument  at  Falaise.  The 
Varangians,  like  the  Normans,  astonished  the  nations  of  the 
South  by  their  reckless  courage  and  gigantic  stature.  "  They 
were  as  tall  as  palm-trees,"  said  the  Arabs.  Bold  sailors,  ad- 
mirable foot-soldiers,  the  Varangians  differed  widely  from  the 
mounted  and  nomad  races  of  Southern  Russia.  Hungarians, 
Khazars,  Patzinaks,  whose  tactics  were  always  Parthian.  The 
Russians,  according  to  Leo  the  Deacon,  who  was  an  eye-witness 
of  the  fact,  fought  in  a  compact  mass,  and  seemed  like  a  wall  of 
iron,  bristling  with  lances,  glittering  with  shields,  whence  rang 
a  ceaseless  clamor  like  the  waves  of  the  sea — the  famous  bar- 
ditiis  or  harritus  of  the  Germans  of  Tacitus.  A  huge  shield 
covered  them   to  their  feet,  and,  when  they  fought  in  retreat. 


HISTOR  Y  OF  R USSIA.  4 7 

they  turned  this  cnonnous  buckler  on  their  backs,  and  became 
invuhierable.  The  fury  of  battle  at  last  made  them  beside 
themselves,  like  the  Bersarks.  Never,  says  the  same  author, 
were  they  seen  to  surrender.  When  victory  was  lost,  they 
stabbed  themselves,  for  they  held  that  those  who  died  by  the 
hand  of  an  enemy  were  condemned  to  serve  him  in  another  life. 
The  Greeks  had  for  long  highly  esteemed  these  heroes  worthy  of 
the  Kdda.  Under  the  name  of  Kos  or  Varangians,  they  formed 
the  body-guard  of  the  Emperor,  and  figured  in  all  the  Byzantine 
armies.  In  the  expedition  of  902  against  Crete,  700  Russians 
took  part;  415  in  that  of  Lombardy  in  925;  584  in  that  of 
Greece  in  949. 

The  Russian  Varangians  readily  took  the  pay  of  foreign 
nations  of  Novgorod  as  well  as  Byzantium.  This  is  one  more 
feature  of  resemblance  with  the  Normans  of  France,  whom  the 
Greek  emperors  also  employed  in  their  wars  with  the  Saracens 
of  Italy.  Sometimes,  instead  of  fighting  for  others,  they  made 
war  for  themselves.  This  was  the  case  with  the  Danes  in  Eng- 
land, the  Normans  in  Neustria,  the  descendants  of  Tancred  in 
Naples  and  Sicily,  the  companions  of  Rurik  in  Russia.  As  they 
were  usually  a  very  small  number,  they  blended  rapidly  with 
the  conquered  nations.  Tiius  the  descendants  of  Rollo  quickly 
became  Frenchmen,  and  those  of  Robert  Guiscard,  Sicilians. 
In  the  Varangian  bands,  Slavs  as  well  as  Scandinavians  were 
mixed  ;  but  we  likewise  know  that  in  the  bands  of  Northmen 
that  ravaged  the  country  of  France,  there  was  a  large  number 
of  Gallo-Romans,  renegades  from  Christianity,  who  thirsted 
more  for  pillage  and  murder  than  did  the  Vikings  themselves. 
This  mingling  of  the  adventurers  and  the  indigenous  race  ex- 
plains  the  rapidity  with  which  both  the  Normans  of  Russia  and 
the  Normans  of  P'rance  lost  their  language,  customs  and  re- 
ligion. The  Varangians  only  retained  one  thing,  their  military 
superiority,  the  habit  of  obeying  the  chosen  or  hereditary  chief. 
Into  the  Slav  anarchy  they  brought  this  element  of  warlike  and 
disciplined  force,  without  which  a  State  cannot  exist.  They  im- 
posed on  the  natives  the  amount  of  constraint  necessary  to  drag 
them  from  their  isolation  and  division  into  gorodichtche's  and 
volosts.  The  Slavs  of  the  Danube  also  owe  their  constitution  to  a 
band  of  Finno-Buigarian  adventurers  under  Aspar  Asparuch  ;  the 
Polish  Slavs  to  the  invasion  of  the  Liakhs  or  Lechites;  the 
Tcheques  to  the  Frank  Samo,  who  enabled  them  to  shake  off 
the  yoke  of  the  Avars. 

The  spontaneous  appeal  of  the  Slavs  to  the  Varangian 
princes  may  seem  to  us  strange.  We  might  believe  that  the 
annalist,  like  the  old  French  historians,  has  tried  to  disguise  the 
fact  of  a  conquest,  by  representing  that   the   Slavs  submitted 


48  H/SrOR  Y  OF  R  USS/A. 

voluntarily  to  the  Varangians  of  Rurik,  as  the  Gauls  are  sup« 
posed  to  have  clone  to  the  Franks  of  Clovis.  In  reality  there 
was  no  conquest,  a  statement  which  is  proved  by  the  fact  that 
the  muncipal  organization  remained  intact,  that  the  7'(f/^/// con- 
tinued to  deliberate  by  the  side  of  the  prince,  the  local  army  to 
fight  in  conjunction  with  the  band  of  adventurers.  The  laws  of 
laroslaf  established  the  same  wer-gild  for  the  murder  of  either 
Slav  or  Varangian,  while  the  Merovingian  laws  recognize  a  great 
difference  between  a  Gallo-Roman  and  a  Frank.  The  defence 
of  the  country,  the  administration  of  justice,  and  the  collection 
of  the  tribute  were  the  special  cares  of  the  prince,  the  last  being 
considered  his  legitimate  reward.  He  played  in  the  Slav  towns 
a  role  similar  to  that  of  the  Italian  podestas  in  the  15th  century >, 
who  were  called  in  to  administer  justice  impartially,  or  that  of 
che  leaders  of  condotticri,  to  whom  the  cities  entrusted  their 
defence. 

As  early  as  859  the  Varangians  exacted  tribute  from  the 
Slavs  of  Ilmen  and  the  Krivilches,  as  well  as  the  Tchouds,  Ves- 
ses,  and  Merians.  The  natives  had  once  expelled  the  Varan- 
gians, but  as  divisions  once  more  became  rife  among  them,  they 
decided  that  they  needed  a  strong  government,  and  recalled  the 
Varangians  in  862.  Whether  the  name  of  Russia  or  of  Rouss 
was  originally  derived  from  a  province  of  Sweden,  or  from  the 
banks  of  the  Dnieper,  the  fact  remains  that  with  the  arrival  of 
the  Varangians  in  Slavonia,  the  true  history  of  Russia  commences 
It  was  the  1 000th  anniversary  of  this  event  that  was  commem- 
orated at  Novgorod  in  1862.  With  the  Varangians  the  Russian 
name  became  famous  in  Eastern  Europe.  It  was  the  epoch  of 
brilliant  and  adventurous  expeditions;  it  was  the  heroic  age  of 
Russia. 

The  Varangians  of  Novgorod  and  Kief  are  not  unworthy 
mates  of  the  Normans  of  the  West — the  bold  conquerors  who 
sought  their  fortunes  from  the  coasts  of  England,  Sicily,  and 
Syria.  They  are  to  be  found  nearly  at  the  same  time  under  the 
walls  of  Constantinople  and  at  the  foot  of  the  (Caucasus,  where 
they  captured  the  town  of  Berdaa  from  the  Arabs  (944).  Nes- 
tor, the  monk  of  the  Petcherski  convent  at  Kief,  whose  history 
extends  to  11 16,  adds  to  his  conscientious  accounts  many  legen- 
dary traits,  which  seem  an  echo  of  Scandinavian  j^r^rt-J  and  early 
Russian  hylinas.  His  Annals,  which  Greek  and  French  author- 
ities enable  us  to  check,  and  which  are  tolerably  exact  in  all  es- 
sentials, seem  at  times,  like  the  first  books  of  Livy,  to  be  epic 
poetry  converted  into  prose. 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


49 


THE    EARLY  RUSSIAN  PRINCKS  :    RURIK,  OLKO,    IGOR — EXPEDITIONS 

ACAINSr     CONSTANTINOPLE. 

At  the  call  of  the  Slavs,  Rurik,  Sineous  and  Trouvor,  three 
Varangian  brothers,  whose  Scandinavian  names  signify  the 
Peaceful,  the  Vidorioi/s,  and  the  Fait/ifnl,  gathered  together 
"  tlieir  brothers  and  tiicir  families,"  that  is,  their  warriors  or 
r//7;///7«ifj  (resembling  the  irnste  oi  the  Frank  kings),  crossed  the 
Bailie  and  took  up  th.eir  positions  on  the  borders  of  the  terri- 
tory they  were  summoned  to  defend.  Rurik,  the  eldest,  estab- 
lished himself  on  the  lake  Ladoga,  near  to  which,  on  the 
southern  side,  he  founded  the  city  of  Ladoga  ;  Sineous  on  the 
White  Lake  (Bieloe-Ozero),  in  the  Vess  country;  Trouvor  at 
Izborsk,  to  hold  the  Livonians  in  check.  When  the  two  latter 
died,  Rurik  established  himself  at  Novgorod,  where  he  built,  not 
a  town  as  Nestor  would  have  us  believe,  but  a  castle.  It  is 
thus  we  must  explain  the  pretended  foundation  by  his  orders  of 
Polotsk  and  of  Rostof,  which  had  existed  long  before  the  ar- 
rival of  the  Varangians.  What  he  probably  did  was  to  trans- 
form ZiX\c\Q\\\  gorodiclitchcs  with  ramparts  of  mud  into  fortresses. 
Two  other  Varangians,  Askold  and  Dir,  who  were  not  of  the 
familv  of  Rurik,  went  down  to  Kief,  and  reigned  over  the  Pol- 
lans.  It  was  they  who  began  the  expeditions  against  Tzargriui 
(Byzantium),  the  queen  of  cities.  With  200  vessels,  says  Nestor, 
they  entered  the  Sound,  in  old  Slav  Soud  (the  Bosphorus  or  the 
Golden  Horn),  and  besieged  Constantinople.  But  the  patriarch 
Bholius,  according  to  the  Byzantine  accounts,  took  the  wonder- 
working robe  of  Our  Lady  of  Blachernes,  and  plunged  it  in  the 
waves.  A  fierce  tempest  instantly  arose,  and  the  whole  Russian 
fleet  was  destroyed. 

Rurik's  successor  was  not  his  son  Igor,  then  a  minor,  but  the 
eldest  member  of  the  family,  his  fourth  brother,  the  enterprising 
Oleg.  At  the  head  of  an  army  composed  of  Varangians,  Slavs 
and  Finns,  he  marched  to  the  south,  received  the  submission  of 
Smolensk  and  Loubetch,  and  arrived  under  the  walls  of  Kief. 
15y  means  of  treachery  he  took  Askold  and  Dir  prisoners,  and 
put  them  to  death,  observing:  "You  are  neither  princes  your- 
selves, nor  of  the  blood  of  princes  ;  this  is  the  son  of  Rurik,"  point- 
ing to  Igor,  The  tomb  of  Askold  is  still  shown  near  Kief,  ^^leg 
was  charmed  with  his  new  conquest,  and  took  up  his  abode  t^'iere, 
saying,  "  Let  Kief  be  the  mother  of  Russian  cities."  The  Va- 
rangian chief  held  communication  both  with  the  Baltic  and,  the 
Black  Sea  by  means  of  Novgorod,  Smolensk,  and  Kief.  He 
subdued  the  Novgorodians,  the  Krivitches,  the  ]\Ierian»,  the 
Drevlians,  the  Sevcrians,  the  Polians,  the  Radimitches,  and  thus 


50 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


united  nearly  all  the  Russian  tribes  under  his  sceptre.  It  was 
about  this  time  that  the  Hungarians  crossed  the  Dnieper  near 
Kief,  and  invaded  Pannonia.  The  Magyar  chronicles  speak  of 
their  having  defeated  Oleg  ;  Nestor  is  silent  on  the  subject. 

In  907  Oleg  collected  a  large  army  from  among  the  tributary 
races,  equipped  2000  boats,  and  prepared  to  invade  Tzargrad 
by  land  and  sea.  Russian  legends  have  embellished  this  expe- 
dition with  many  wonderful  details.  Oleg  built  wheels  to  his 
vessels,  and  spread  their  sails  ;  blown  by  the  wind  they  reached 
the  gates  of  the  city.  Leo  VI.  the  Philosopher,  horror-stricken, 
agreed  to  pay  tribute,  but  the  Greeks  tried  to  get  rid  of  the 
Russians  by  offering  them  poisoned  food.  Oleg  divined  their 
perfid}'.  He  imposed  a  heavy  contribution,  a  commerical  treaty 
advantageous  to  the  Russians,  and  suspended  his  shield  on  the 
Golden  Door. 

To  his  subjects  Oleg  was  more  than  a  hero.  Terror-stricken 
by  his  v.'isdom,  this  "foolish  and  idolatrous  people  "  looked  on 
him  as  a  sorcerer.  In  the  Scandinavian  sagas  we  find  many  in- 
stances of  chiefs,  such  as  Odin,  Gylf  and  Raude,  being  at  the 
same  time  great  warriors  and  great  magicians.  It  is  strange 
that  neither  Greek,  Frank,  nor  Venetian  historians  allude  to 
this  campaign.  Nestor  cites  the  names  of  the  Russian  envoys 
who  negotiated  the  peace,  and  gives  the  text  of  the  treaty. 

A  magician  had  predicted  to  Oleg  that  his  favorite'  horse 
would  cause  his  death.  It  was  kept  apart  from  him,  and  when, 
five  years  after,  the  animal  died,  he  insisted  on  being  taken  to 
see  its  body,  as  a  triumph  over  the  ignorance  and  imposture  of 
the  sorcerers.  But  from  the  skull  of  the  horse  issued  a  serpent 
which  inflicted  a  mortal  sting  on  the  foot  of  the  hero. 

Igor  led  a  third  expedition  against  Tzargrad.  The  Dnieper 
conducted,  as  it  were  of  her  own  will,  the  Russian  flotilla  to  the 
seas  of  Greece.  Igor  had  10,000  vessels  according  to  the 
Greek  historians,  1000  according  to  the  more  probable  calcula- 
tion of  Liutprand.  This  would  allow  400,000  men  in  the  first 
case,  and  only  40,000  in  the  second.  Instead  of  attacking  the 
town,  he  cruelly  ravaged  the  Greek  provinces.  The  Byzantine  ' 
admirals  and  generals  united,  and  destroyed  the  Russian  armv 
in  a  series  of  engagements  by  the  aid  of  Greek  fire.  N-stor  has 
not  copied  the  numerous  details  the  Byzantine  historians  give  of 
this  battle,  but  we  have  the  evidence'  of  Liutprand,  bishop  ol 
Cremona,  derived  from  his  father-in-law,  the  ambassador  of  the 
king  of  Italy  at  Constantinople,  who  saw  with  his  own  eyes  the 
defeat  of  Igor,  and  was  present  at  the  sacrifice  of  prisoners,  be- 
headed by  order  of  the  Emperor  Romanus  Lecapenus.  In  944 
Igor  secured  the  help  of  the  formidable  Patzinaks,  and  organizeG^ 
an  expedition  to  avenge  his  defeat.     The  Greek  Lmperor,  now 


ins  TORY  OF  RUSSIA, 


S» 


seriously  alarmed,  offered  to  pay  tribute,  and  signed  a  new  com- 
mercial treaty,  of  which  the  text  is  given  by  Nestor.  Byzantine 
and  Western  writers  do  not  mention  this  second  expedition  of 
Igor.  On  his  return  from  Russia,  he  was  assassinated  by  the 
Drcvlians,  from  whom  he  had  tried  to  exact  tribute.  Leo  the 
Deacon,  a  Greek  writer,  says  he  was  torn  in  pieces  by  means  of 
two  young  trees,  bent  forcibly  to  the  earth,  and  then  allowed  to 
take  their  natural  direction  (945). 


OLGA — CHRISTIANITY    IN    RUSSIA. 

Olga,  widow  of  Igor,  assumed  the  regency  in  the  name  of 
her  son  Sviatoslaf,  then  a  minor.  Her  first  care  was  to  revenge 
herself  on  the  Drevlians.  In  Nestor's  account  it  is  impossible 
to  distinguish  between  the  history  and  the  epic.  The  Russian 
chronicler  relates  in  detail  how  the  Drevlians  sent  two  deputa- 
tions to  Olga  to  appease  her,  and  to  offer  her  the  hand  of  their 
prince,  and  how  she  disposed  of  them  by  treachery,  burying 
some  alive,  and  causing  others  to  be  stifled  in  a  bathing-house. 
Next,  says  Nestor,  she  besieged  their  city  Korostiienes,  and  she 
offered  them  peace  on  payment  of  a  tribute  of  three  pigeons 
and  three  sparrows  for  each  house.  Lighted  tow  was  tied  to 
the  tails  of  the  birds,  and  they  were  set  free.  They  flew  straight 
home  to  the  wooden  town,  where  the  barns  and  thatched  roofs 
instantly  took  fire.  Lastly  the  legend  relates  that  Olga  massa- 
cred part  of  the  Korosthenians,  and  the  rest  became  slaves. 

This  vindictive  Scandinavian  woman,  in  spite  of  all,  was  des- 
tined to  be  the  first  apostle  of  Russia.  Nestor  relates  that  she 
went  to  Tzargrad  to  the  Emperor  Constantine  Porphyrogeniius, 
astonished  him  by  the  strength  and  adroitness  of  her  charar*^er, 
and  was  baptized  under  the  name  of  Helen,  the  Greek  Tzar  be- 
ing her  godfather.  Only  two  facts  in  Nestor's  account  are 
historical,  namely,  the  reception  of  Olga  at  the  imperial  palace 
of  Constantinople,  related  in  detail  in  the  '  Book  of  Ceremo- 
nies,' and  perhaps  her  baptism.  If  the  Greek  historians  do  not 
mention  it  in  the  contemporary  chronicles,  it  is  because  they 
did  not  perceive  the  important  consequences  of  this  event.  If 
writers  allude  to  it  in  the  chronicles  of  the  nth  and  12th  cen- 
turies, it  is  because  the  consequences  of  the  event  had  by  that 
time  been  completely  developed.  * 

Even  in  Russia  (Jlga's  conversion  passed  almost  unnoticed. 

Christianity  had  made  but  little  progress   in  that  country.     No 

doubt   since   Cyril   and   Methodius   had   invented   the   Slavo/iic 

alphabet,   and   translated   the  Holy  Books   for  the   BulgaK.  ,% 

p  A.  Rambaud,  /  L'Empire  grec  au  dixieme  siecle,'  p.  383. 


52 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


Christianity,  which  had  already  triumphed  over  some  Slav 
peoples,  was  being  handed  on  from  one  to  the  other.  Some 
missions  were  already  established  in  Russia.  The  Byzantines 
say,  that  alarmed  by  the  miraculous  defeat  of  Askold  and  Dir, 
and  seized  with  a  respectful  awe  of  the  Christian  talismans  of 
the  Patriarch  Photius,  the  Russians  "  sent  envoys  to  Conslanti- 
nople  to  ask  for  baptism."  The  Emperor  Basil  the  Macedonian 
then  gave  them  an  archbishop,  who  performed  a  miracle  before 
them.  He  threw  a  copy  of  the  Gospels  into  a  brazier,  and  drew 
it  out  unharmed.  According  to  this  account,  Askold  v\as  the 
first  Russian  prince  who  became  a  Christian.  Hence  the  wor- 
ship rendered  to  his  tomb  and  memory.  In  the  list  of  Byzar- 
tine  Eparchies  under  Leo  VL,  the  Bishopric  of  Russia  figures, 
of  which  no  doubt  Kief  was  the  metropolis.  These  missions, 
however,  do  not  seem  to  have  been  very  successful  ;  at  the  time 
of  the  treaty  concluded  between  Oleg  and  Leo  VI.,  the  Rus- 
sians still  swore  by  their  swords,  by  Voloss  and  Perun.  In  the 
treaty  concluded  bv  Igor,  when  the  Russians  swore  at  Kief  be- 
fore  the  Emperor's  envoy,  to  confirm  it,  some  ascended  the  hill 
of  Perun  and  performed  the  vows  in  the  ancient  way  ;  others 
went  to  the  chapel  of  Saint  Elias,  and  laid  their  hand  on  the 
Gospel.  There  existed  then,  in  the  "  mother  of  Russian  cities," 
a  Christian  community,  though  a  very  weak  one,  if  it  is  true  that 
Olga  refused  to  be  baptized  in  Kief  "for  fear  of  the  pagans." 
The  mass  of  warriors  kept  Christianity  at  a  distance.  In  their 
expeditions  against  the  B\zantine  provinces,  we  find  them  at- 
tacking monasteries  and  churches  by  preference,  giving  them  up 
to  the  flames,  and  finding  a  peculiar  pleasure  in  torturing  priests 
and  monks  by  driving  nails  into  their  heads.  It  was  thus  that 
the  Normans  of  France,  the  fanatics  of  Odinism,  treated  the 
ecclesiastics  with  refinements  of  cruelty,  boasting  that  they 
"  sang  them  the  Mass  of  lances."  "  When  one  of  the  soldiers 
of  the  Grand  Prince  wished  to  become  a  convert,"  says  Nestor, 
"  he  was  not  prevented,  but  only  laughed  at."  The  efforts  of 
Olga  for  the  conversion  of  her  son  Sviatoslaf,  who  had  assumed 
the  reins  of  government  on  reaching  his  majority,  were  fruitless. 
He  did  not  like  exposing  himself  to  the  ridicule  of  his  soldiers 
by  embracing  a  new  faith.  "  My  men  will  mock  me,"  he  replied 
tf)  the  prayers  of  his  mother.  "  And  often,"  Nestor  affirms 
sadly,  "  he  became  furious  with  her."  Olga  vainly  assured  him 
that  if  he  would  be  baptized,  all  his  subjects  would  soon  tollow 
his  example.  The  public  mind  was  not  yet  in  a  condition  for 
the  example  of  the  prince  to  be  all-powerful.  The  Chtrsuan 
Olga,  canonized  by  the  Church,  "  the  first  Russian  who  i^  uo,nt- 
ed  to  the  heavenly  kingdom,"  remained  an  exception,  i.\L\z 
noticed  or  t-kought  of  in  the  midst  of  the  pagan  aristocracy 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA.  5^ 


SVTATOSLAF — THE   DANUBE   DISPUTED    BETWEEN   GREEKS    AND 

RUSSIANS. 

The  reign  of  Sviatoslaf,  664-972,  though  short,  was  signaliz- 
ed by  two  memorable  events :  the  defeat  of  the  Khazars,  and 
the  great  war  against  the  Bvzantine  Empire  for  the  possession 
of  Bulgaria.  About  the  former  event  the  annalist  gives  few  de- 
tails ;  but  Sviatoslaf  must  have  gained  a  complete,  victory,  if  it 
be  true  that  he  look  the  White  City,  capital  of  the  Khazar  Em- 
pire on  the  Don,  and  that  he  exacted  tribute  from  the  lasses  or 
Ossets  of  the  Caucasus,  and  the  Kassogans  or  Tcherkesses. 
The  Russians  had  no  reason  to  rejoice  in  their  success,  for  the 
decline  of  the  Khazars,  who  were  a  civilized  people,  favored  the 
progress  of  the  Patzinaks,  the  most  ferocious  of  all  barbarians. 
The  Arabs  spoke  of  them  as  wild  beasts  and  Matthew  of  Edessa 
calls  them  "a  greedy  people,  devouring  the  bodies  of  mei^ 
corrupt  and  impure,  bloody  and  cruel  beasts."  During  one  ol 
the  frequent  absences  of  Sviatoslaf,  the  Patzin?ks  suddenly  ap- 
peared under  the  walls  of  Kief,  where  the  mother  and  children 
of  the  Grand  Prince  had  taken  refuge,  and  reduced  it  to  the 
last  extremit}'.  The  bold  manoeuvre  of  a  voievode  saved  the 
Kievians,  who  were  starving.  On  his  return  to  his  capital, 
Sviatoslaf  was  horritied  at  the  risks  it  had  »^ncountered.  It 
was  at  the  hands  of  these  same  Patzinaks  that  he  was  one  day 
to  perish. 

On  the  subject  of  the  Bulgarian  war  the  narrative  of  Nestor 
is  confused  and  incomplete.  He  is  silent  about  the  Russian 
defeats,  and  legend  mixes  largely  with  historical  facts.  Nestor 
relates  that  the  Greeks  wished  to  ascertain  what  sort  of  man 
Sviatoslaf  was.  They  sent  him  gifts  of  gold  and  fine  tissues,  but 
the  Grand  Prince  looked  on  them  with  disdain,  and  said  to  his 
soldiers,  "  Take  them  away."  Then  they  sent  him  a  sword  and 
other  weapons,  and  the  hero  seized  them  and  kissed  them  en- 
thusiastically. The  Greeks  were  afraid,  and  said,  "  This  must 
be  a  fierce  man,  since  he  despises  wealth  and  accepts  a  sword 
for  trilnite."  Happily  the  very  minute  account  of  Leo  the  Deacon 
appears  both  exact  and  impartial,  and  we  are  enabled  to  follow 
this  campaign,  where  a  chief  of  infant  Russia  crosses  that  Danube 
which  the  Russian  armies  are  not  again  to  see  till  the  reign  of 
Catherine  H.  and  Nicholas.  The  Greek  Emperor  Nicephorus 
Phocas,  in  order  to  avenge  himself  on  Peter  the  Tzar  of  Bulgaria, 
had  recourse  to  the  dangerous  expedient  so  frequent  in  Byzantine 
policy.  He  called  in  the  barbarians.  A  certain  Kalokyr  was 
sent  as  envoy  to  Sviatoslaf  with  a  sufficient  sum  of  money  to  allow 
him  to  take  the  field.     It  was  thus  that  these  two  Slav  races — 


54 


HTSTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


who  owned  their  constitutions,  one  to  the  Varangian  droujintx 
of  Rurik,  the  other  to  the  Turanian  droujina  of  Asparuch — were 
urged  to  conflict  by  Greek  diplomacy,  Sviatoslaf  descended  on 
Bulgaria  with  a  thoroughly-equipped  fleet,  reassured  the  Byzan- 
tines by  bringing  60,000  men  to  their  assistance,  took  Pereiaslaf, 
the  Bulgarian  capital,  and  all  their  fortresses. 

The  Tzar  Peter  yielded  to  his  evil  destiny  at  the  moment  the 
Patzinaks  were  besieging  Kief.  This  lesson  was,  howeyer,  lost 
on  Sviatoslaf.  He  was  everjoyed  at  his  conquest,  and  wished  to 
transport  his  capital  to  Pereiaslaf  on  the  Danube,  a  city  distinct 
from  Pereiaslaf  orPrislaf,  the  modern  Eski-Stamboul,  which  was 
the  capital  of  the  Bulgarians  in  the  loth  century.  "This  place,'' 
he  said  to  his  mother,  "  is  the  central  point  of  my  possessions, 
and  abounds  in  wealth.  From  Greece  come  precious  stuffs,  wine, 
gold,  and  all  kinds  of  fruit  ;  from  the  country  of  the  Tcheques 
and  Hungarians,  horses  and  silver  ;  from  Russia,  furs,  money, 
wax,  and  slaves."  This  resolution  of  Sviatoslaf  was  fraught  with 
immense  danger  to  the  Greek  Empire.  If  Byzantium  feared  the 
neighborhood  of  an  enfeebled  Bulgaria,  how  was  she  to  resist  a 
power  that  extended  from  the  Baltic  to  the  Balkans,  and  which 
could  add  to  the  Bulgarian  legions,  disciplined  after  tlie  Roman 
fashion  by  the  Tzar  Simeon,  the  Varangians  of  Scandinavia, 
the  Russian  Slavs,  the  Finnish  hordes  of  the  Vesses,  Tchouds, 
and  Merians,  and  even  the  light  cavalry  of  the  Patzinaks  ? 

The  formation  of  a  great  Slav  J^m.pire  so  close  to  Constanti- 
nople would  have  been  rendered  more  formidable  by  the  ethno- 
graphical constitution  of  the  peninsula.  Ancient  Thrace  and 
ancient  Macedon  were  peopled  by  Slav  tribes,  some  of  whom 
were  offshoiDts  from  the  Russian  tribes  ;  for  example,  Drego- 
vitches  and  Smolenes  were  to  be  found  there  as  much  as  at  Minsk 
and  Smolensk.  Thessaly,  Attica,  and  the  Peloponnesus  were 
invaded  by  these  emigrants,  who  became  the  subjects  of  the 
Greek  Empire.  The  famous  mountain  Taygetus,  in  Laconia, 
was  inhabited  by  two  Slav  tribes,  still  unsubdued — the  Milingians 
■  and  the  Ezerites.  We  must  not  forget  that  Bulgaria  extended 
as  far  as  the  Ochrid,  and  that  the  ancient  provinces  under  the 
names  of  Croatia,  Servia,  and  Dalmatia,  had  become  almost 
entirely  Slav.  This  great  race  extended  then  almost  unbroken 
from  the  Peloponnesus,  already  called  by  the  Slav  name  of  INIorea, 
to  Novgorod.  Thus,  if  the  town  of  Pereiaslaf  on  the  Danube 
had  really  become  the  centre  of  the  Russian  dominions,  accord- 
ing to  the  wish  of  Sviatoslaf,  the  Greek  race  and  the  Roman 
domination  in  the  Balkan  peninsula  would  speedily  have  come 
to  an  end.  The  Greek  emperors  had  been  able  to  resist  Askold, 
Oleg,  and  Igor.  The  Russians  of  their  day  had  lived  far  from 
the   Empire,  and  were  obliged  to  go  by  water,  which  limited 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


S5 


Efreailv  the  number  of  their  armies.  With  their  canoes  hollowed 
out  of  the  trunks  of  trees,  such  as  are  now  to  be  seen  in  the 
Russian  villages,  they  had  to  descend  the  Dnieper,  disembark  at 
each  of  the  seven  cataracts,  carry  canoes  (monoxyles)  till  they 
could  re-embark  further  on,  and  all  the  while  gave  battle  to  the 
Patzinaks,  who  were  in  ambush  behind  the  rocks.  After  they 
had  escaped  these  perils,  they  had  to  brave  with  their  frail  barks 
the  tempests  of  the  Black  Sea,  the  powerful  Roman  galleys 
manned  by  the  best  sailors  of  the  East,  and  the  mysterious  Greek 
fire  which  filled  them  wiih  terror.  Few  reached  the  walls  of 
Constantinople,  and  their  defeat  was  certain.  Now,  on  the  con- 
trary, masters  of  the  Danube,  masters  of  the  land-route,  they 
could  precipitate  on  Constantinople  all  the  hordes  of  Scythia. 

Fortunately  for  the  Greek  Empire,  it  then  chanced  to  be  re- 
newing its  youth.  A  series  of  great  captains  succeeded  each 
other  on  this  tottering  throne.  In  John  Zimisces  the  Russian 
prince  was  to  find  an  adversary  worthy  of  him.  Sviatoslaf,  re- 
called to  Bulgaria,  had  been  obliged  to  reconquer  it.  It  was  at 
this  moment  that  Zimisces  summoned  him  to  execute  the  condi- 
tions of  the  treaty  concluded  with  his  predecessor;  that  is,  to 
evacuate  the  country.  Sviatoslaf,  who  had  just  taken  Philippopolir 
and  exterminated  the  inhabitants,  replied  haughtily  that  he  hoped 
soon  to  be  at  Constantinople.  Zimisces  then  began  his  prepara- 
tions. In  the  beginning  of  March  972,  he  despatched  a  fleet  to 
the  north  of  the  Danube,  and  himself  marched  to  Adrianople. 
He  surprised  the  Russians,  who  had  not  expected  him  so  soon, 
in  the  defiles  of  the  Balkans  ;  appeared  suddenly  under  the  walls 
of  Pereiaslaf,  defeated  a  bodv  of  manv  thousand  Russians,  and 
obliged  them  to  retire  within  the  walls  ;  then  he  gave  the  order 
for  the  assault,  and  took  the  town  by  escalade,  fjght  thousand 
Russians  shut  up  in  the  royal  castle  made  a  frantic  resistance, 
refused  to  capitulate,  and  perished  in  the  flames. 

When  the  news  of  this  disaster  reached  Sviatoslaf,  he  advanced 
with  the  greater  part  of  his  army  to  meet  the  Emperor,  and  came 
up  with  him  near  Dorostol  (Silistria).  The  Greek  historians 
make  the  Russian  army  to  have  consisted  of  at  least  60,00c 
men  ;  Nestor  only  reckons  10,000.  Here  a  bloody  battle  took 
place,  and  twelve  times  victory  appeared  to  shift  from  one  side 
to  the  other.  The  solidity  of  the  Russian  infantry  defied  the 
charges  of  the  cava' rv— "the  Ironside"  (Karac^paKTot). 
At  last  they  gave  way  under  a  desperate  charge,  and  fell  back  on 
Dorostol.  'Phere  they  were  besieged  by  the  Emperor,  and  dis- 
played a  wild  courage  in  their  sallies.  Even  their  women,  like 
the  ancient  Amazons,  or  the  heroines  of  the  Scandinavian  sagas 
or  Russian  songs,  took  part  in  the  vieh'e.  The  Russians  slew 
themselves  rather  than  ask  for  mercy.     The  night  following  on 


£6  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

an  action,  they  were  seen  to  leave  the  town  by  moonlight  to  burn 
their  dead.  On  their  ashes  they  sacrificed  prisoners  of  war,  and 
drowned  in  the  Danube  cocks  and  little  children.  Provisions 
failed,  and  Sviatoslaf  stole  out  one  stormy  night  with  canoes 
manned  by  2000  warriors,  rowed  round  the  Greek  fleet,  collected 
millet  and  corn  in  the  neighboring  villages,  and,  falling  suddenly 
on  the  Greeks,  re-entered  the  town  victoriously.  Zimisces  then 
took  measures  to  prevent  any  boat  from  getting  out.  This  epic 
siege  was  signalized  by  some  strange  combats.  One  of  the 
bravest  of  the  Russian  chiefs  was  slain  by  Apemas,  a  baptized 
Arab,  son  of  an  Emir  of  Crete,  and  himself  one  of  the  guards  of 
Zimisces. 

Sviatoslaf  resolved  to  make  one  last  effort,  and  issued  from 
the  town  with  all  his  forces.  Before  the  battle  Zimisces  proposed 
to  Sviatoslaf  to  terminate  the  war  by  a  duel  between  themselves. 
It  was  the  barbarian  who  refused  :  "  I  know  better  than  my 
enemy  what  I  have  to  do,"  said  Sviatoslaf.  "  If  he  is  weary  of 
life,  there  are  a  thousand  means  by  which  he  can  end  his  days." 
This  battle  was  as  obstinate  and  blood v  as  the  former.  Sviatoslaf 
came  near  being  slain  by  Apemas.  At  last  the  Russians  gave 
way,  leaving  on  the  battlefield,  says  Leo  the  Deacon,  15,500  dead 
and  20,000  shields.  The  survivors  retired  into  the  town.  They 
were  forced  to  treat.  Zimisces  allowed  them  to  retire  from  Bul- 
garia, and  they  swore  by  Perun  and  Voloss  never  again  to  invade 
ihe  empire,  but  to  help  to  defend  it  against  all  enemies.  If  they 
broke  their  vows,  might  they  "become  as  yellow  as  gold,  and  perish 
by  their  own  arms."  Nestor  gives  us  the  text  of  this  convention, 
which  was  really  a  capitulation,  and  confirms  the  account  of  the 
Greek  historians  rather  than  his  own.  These  relate  that  Zimisces 
sent  deputies  to  the  Patzinaks  to  beg  them  to  grant  a  free  passage 
to  the  remnant  of  the  Russian  army.  It  is  certain  that  the  barbar- 
ians awaited  the  Russians  at  the  Cataracts,  ox porogs  oi  the  Dnie- 
per. They  killed  Sviatoslaf,  cut  off  his  head,  and  his  skull  was 
used  by  their  Prince  Kouria  as  a  drinking-cup.  Sviatoslaf  was,  in 
spite  of  his  Slav  name,  the  very  type  of  a  Varangian  prince  of 
the  intrepid,  wily,  and  ambitious  Northmen.  Nestor  boasts  his 
good  faith.  When  he  wished  to  make  war  on  a  people,  lie  sent  to 
warn  them.     "  I  march  against  you,"  he  said. 

After  the  surrender  of  Dorostol,  he  had  an  interview  with  his 
enemy  Zimisces.  Leo  the  Deacon  profits  by  the  occasion  to 
give  us  his  portrait.  The  Emperor  being  on  horseback  by  the 
shore,  Sviatoslaf  approached  him  by  boat,  handling  the  oar  like 
his  companions.  He  was  of  middle  height,  but  very  robust  ;  he 
had  a  wide  chest,  a  thick  neck,  blue  eyes,  thick  eyebrows,  a  flat 
nose,  long  mustaches,  a  thin  beard,  and  a  tuft  of  hair  on  his 
shaven  head  as  a  mark  of  his  nobility.     He  wore  a  gold  ring  in 


II IS  TOR  y  OF  /V  C'SSIA . 


SJ 


one  of  his  ears,  ornamented  with  rubies  and  two  pearls. 
Let  us  notice  this  portrait  ;  we  shall  have  to  searcli  far  into 
Russian  annals  to  find  another.  Between  the  description  given 
by  Leo  the  Deacon  and  those  of  the  Russian  annalists,  there 
is  the  same  difference  as  between  the  eikon  of  a  saint  and  an 
authentic  likeness. 


«8 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  CLOVES  AND  CHARLEMAGNE  OF  THE  RUSSIANS:  SAINT  VLADIMIR 
AND  lAROSLAF  THE  GREAT    972-IO54. 

Vladimir  (972-1015  ) — Conversion  of  the  Russians — laroslaf  the  Great  (1016- 
1054 — Union  of  Russia — Splendor  of  Kief — Varangian-Russian  society  at 
the  time  of  laroslaf — Progress  of  Christianity — Social,  political,  literary, 
and  artistic  results. 


VLADIMIR  (972-1015) — CONVERSION  OF  THE  RUSSIANS. 

The  Slav  tribes  owe  their  organization  to  a  twofold  conquest — 
a  military  conquest  which  came  from  the  North,  and  an  ecclesias- 
tical conquest  which  came  from  the  South.  The  Varangians 
sent  them  chiefs  of  war,  who  welded  their  scattered  tribes 
into  a  nation  ;  the  Byzantines  sent  missionaries,  who  united  the 
Slavs  among  themselves  and  to  their  civilized  neighbors  by  the 
bonds  of  a  common  religion. 

The  man  destined  to  conclude  the  work  of  propagandism  be- 
gun by  Olga  did  not  at  first  seem  fitted  for  this  great  task.  Vladi- 
mir, like  Clovis,  was  at  first  nothing  but  a  barbarian — wily, 
voluptuous,  and  bloody.  Only  while  Clovis  after  his  baptism  is 
not  perceptibly  better  than  he  was  before,  and  becomes  the 
assassin  of  his  royal  Frankish  relations,  the  Russian  annalist 
seems  to  wish  to  establish  a  contrast  between  the  life  led  by 
Vladimir  prior  to  his  conversion  and  the  life  he  led  after  it. 
Sviatoslaf  left  three  sons  :  laropolk  at  Kief,  Oleg  ruler  of  the 
Drevlians,  Vladimir  at  Novgorod.  In  the  civil  wars  which 
followed,  and  which  recall  the  bloody  Merovingian  anarchy,  laro- 
polk slew  Oleg,  and  in  his  turn  died  by  the  hand  of  Vladimir. 
He  fell  in  love  with  Rogneda,  laropolk's  betrothed,  and  demand- 
ed her  in  marriage  from  the  Varangian  Rogvolod,  who  ruled  over 
Tololsk.  The  princess  answered,  that  she  would  never  marry 
the  son  of  a  slave,  in  allusion  to  Vladimir's  mother  having  been 
a  servant,  though  he  himself  had  alwavs  been  treated  bv  his 
father  as  his  brother's  equal.  Maddened  by  this  insult,  Vladimir 
sacked  Polotsk,  killed  Rogvolod  and  his  two  sons,  and  forced  Rog- 
neda to  marry  him.  After  the  murder  of  laropolk,  Vladimir  also 
tof)k  the  wife  whom  laropolk  had  left  enceinte,  a  beautiful  Greek 
nun,cajJtured  in  an  expedition  against  Byzantium.  These  two  wo- 


VLADiMlK. 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


59 


men  he  had  deprived,  one  of  her  husband,  ihe  other  of  her  faiher 
and  brothers.  He  had,  besides,  a  Bohemian  and  a  Bulgarian 
wife,  and  another,  all  of  whom  bore  him  sons.  Finally  this  bas< 
tard,  this  "  son  of  a  slave,"  was  so  abandoned  in  his  profligacy, 
that  he  kept  300  concubines  at  Vychegorod,  3000  at  Bie'lgorod, 
near  Kief,  and  200  at  Berestof,  Lusting  no  less  after  war  and 
plunder,  he  reconquered  Red  Russia  from  the  Poles,  quelled  a 
revolt  of  the  Viatitches  and  Radimitches,  and  exacted  tribute 
from  the  Lithuanian  latvaguians,  and  Livonian  tribes  of  Letts 
or  Finns. 

The  soul  of  the  sensual  and  passionate  barbarian  was  trou- 
bled, notwithstanding,  by  religious  aspirations.  At  first  he 
turned  to  the  Slav  gods,  and  his  reign  was  inaugurated  by  anew 
growth  of  paganism.  On  the  high  sandy  cliffs  of  Kief,  which 
tower  above  the  Dnieper,  he  erected  idols  ;  among  them  one  of 
Rerun,  with  a  head  of  silver  and  a  beard  of  gold.  Two  Varan- 
gians, faiher  and  son,  both  Christians,  were  stabbed  at  the  feet 
of  Rerun.  But  the  day  of  the  ancient  gods  was  passed ;  Vlad- 
imir was  undergoing  the  religious  crisis  in  which  all  Russia 
labored.  He  felt  other  faiths  were  necessary  to  him  ;  so,  ac- 
cording to  the  testimony  of  Nestor,  he  took  it  into  his  head,  like 
the  Japanese  of  to-day,  to  institute  a  search  after  the  best  re- 
ligion. His  ambassadors  forthwith  visited  Mussulmans,  Jews, 
and  Catholics :  the  first  represented  by  the  Bulgarians  of  the 
Volga,  the  second  probably  by  the  Khazars  or  the  Jewish  Khar- 
aites,  the  third  by  the  Poles  and  Germans.  Vladimir  declined 
Islamism,  which  prescribed  circumcision  and  forbade  "the  wine, 
which  was  dear  to  the  Russians  ;  "  Judaism,  whose  disciples 
wandered  through  the  earth;  and  Catholicism,  whose  cere- 
monies appeared  wanting  in  magnificence.  The  deputies  that 
he  sent  to  Constantinople,  on  the  contrary,  returned  awe- 
stricken.  The  splendors  of  Saint  Sophia,  the  brilliancy  of  the 
sacerdotal  vestments,  the  magnificence  of  the  ceremonies, 
heightened  by  the  presence  of  the  Emperor  and  his  Court,  the 
patriarch  and  the  numerous  clergy,  the  incense,  the  religious 
songs,  had  powerfully  appealed  to  the  imagination  of  the  bar- 
barians. One  final  argument  triumphed  over  the  scruples  of 
Vladimir.  "If  the  Greek  religion  had  not  been  the  best,  your 
grandmother  Olga,  the  wisest  of  mortals,  would  not  have 
adopted  it,"  said  the  boyards.  The  proud  Vladimir  did  not  in- 
tend to  beg  for  baptism  at  the  hands  of  the  Greeks — he  would 
conquer  it  by  his  own  arms,  and  ravish  it  like  a  prey.  He  de- 
scended into  the  Taurid  and  besieged  Cherson,  the  last  city  of 
this  region  that  remained  subject  to  the  Emperors.  A  certain 
Anastasius,  possibly  from  religious  motives,  betrayed  his  coun- 
try.    Rendered  prouder  than  ever  by  this  important  conquest, 


6o  tfIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA. 

Vladimir  sent  an  embassy  to  the  Greek  Emperors  Basil  and 
Constantine,  demanding  tlieir  sister  Anne  in  marriage,  and 
threatening,  in  case  of  refusal,  to  marcli  on  Constantinople;  It 
was  not  the  first  time  the  barbarians  had  made  this  proposal  to 
the  Greek  Caesars,  and  Constantine  Porphyrogenitus  himself 
teaches  his  successors  how  to  get  rid  of  these  inconvenient  de- 
mands. But  on  this  occasion  the  Emperors,  who  were  occupied 
with  revolts  in  the  interior,  thought  themselves  driven  to  con- 
sent, on  condition  that  Vladimir  was  baptized.  It  was  in  Cher- 
son  that  the  Russian  prince  received  baptism,  and  celebrated 
his  marriage  with  the  heiress  of  the  Emperors  of  Rome.  The 
priests  he  brought  to  Kief  were  his  captives  ;  the  sacred  orna- 
ments, the  holy  relics  with  which  he  enriched  and  sanctified  his 
capital,  were  his  booty.  When  he  returned  to  Kief  it  was  as  an 
Apostle  (Jsapostolos),  but  as  an  armed  Apostle  that  he  cate- 
chized his  people.  The  idols  were  pulled  down  amid  the  tears 
and  fright  of  the  people.  Perun  was  flogged  and  thrown  into 
the  Dnieper.  They  still  show  on  the  side  of  the  Kievan  cliffs 
the  rock  called  "  The  Devil's  Leap  ;  "  and  further  away,  the 
the  place  where  Perun  was  thrown  up  by  the  waters  on  the 
shore.  The  people  instantly  rushed  to  worship  him,  but  the 
soldiers  of  Vladimir  cast  him  back  into  the  river.  Then,  b\- 
Vladimir's  order,  all  the  Kievans,  men  and  women,  masters  and 
slaves,  old  people  and  little  children,  plunged  naked  into  the 
consecrated  waters  of  the  old  pagan  stream,  while  the  Greek 
priests  standing  on  the  bank  with  Vladimir  read  the  baptismal 
service.  After  a  sturdy  resistance,  the  Novgorodians  were  in 
like  manner  forced  to  hurl  Perun  into  the  Volkhoff,  and  enter  it 
themselves. 

We  have  already  seen  that  the  Russians  had  not  lost  all 
recollections  of  their  ancient  gods,  and  that  nature  was  still  the 
home  of  a  whole  world  of  deities.  A  long  time  had  to  pass 
before  Christianity  could  penetrate  into  their  hearts  and  cus- 
toms. M.  Bouslaef  assures  us  that,  even  in  the  12th  centurv, 
Christian  rites  M^ere  only  practised  by  the  higher  classes.  The 
peasants  kept  their  old  pagan  ceremonies,  and  continued  to 
contract  their  marriages  "  around  the  bush  of  broom."  They 
preserved  even  longer  their  faith  in  magicians  and  sorcerers, 
who  were  often  of  more  authority  than  the  priests.  Vladimir,  at 
any  rate,  wished  to  prepare  the  transformation.  It  does  not 
appear  that  he  persecuted  the  idolaters,  but  he  occupied  him- 
self in  adorning  the  churches  of  his  capital,  which  he  had  shorn 
of  its  idols.  On  the  spot  where  Perun  stood  he  built  the  church 
of  Saint  Basil,  the  Greek  name  which  he  had  taken  at  his  bap- 
tism. On  the  place  where  the  two  Varangian  martyrs  had  been 
elaiw  by  his  orders  he  raised  the  church  of  the  D^ciatine  or  the 


HISTOR  Y  OF  R USSTA.  ^1 

Dime,  embellished  and  ornamented  with  Greek  inscriptions  by 
artists  who  came  from  the  South.  He  founded  schools,  where 
boys  studied  the  holy  books  translated  into  Slavonic,  but  he  was 
obliged  to  compel  the  attendance  of  the  children,  whose  parents, 
convinced  that  writing  was  a  dangerous  kind  of  magic,  shed  tears 
of  despair.  Nestor  cannot  sufficiently  praise  the  reformation  of 
Vladimir  after  his  baptism.  He  was  faithful  to  his  Greek  wife, 
he  no  longer  loved  war,  he  distributed  his  revenues  to  the 
churches  and  to  the  poor,  and,  in  spite  of  the  increase  of  crime, 
hesitated  to  inflict  capital  puhishment.  "  I  fear  to  sin,"  he  re- 
plied to  his  councillors.  It  was  the  bishops  who  had  to  recall 
to  him  the  fact  that  "  criminals  must  be  chastised,  though  with 
discretion,"  and  that  the  country  must  not  be  left  a  prey  to  the 
Patzinaks.  Vladimir,  who  reminded  us  formerly  of  a  Northman 
of  the  type  of  Robert  the  Devil,  suddenly  becomes  the  "  good 
King  Robert  "  of  Russia. 

His  wars  with  the  Patzinaks  are  recorded  by  Nestor  with  all 
kinds  of  episodes  borrowed  from  the  epic  poetry.  There  is  the 
Russian  champion  who  tears  in  pieces  the  furious  bull,  or  stifles 
a  Patzinak  giant  in  his  arms;  there  are  the  inhabitants  of  Biel- 
gorod,  who,  having  been  reduced  to  famine  by  the  barbarians, 
let  down  into  wells  two  large  caldrons,  one  full  of  hydromel  and 
the  other  of  meal,  to  make  the  Patzinaks  believe  these  were  nat- 
ural productions  of  the  soil.  We  see  in  the  popular  songs  of 
what  a  marvellous  cycle  of  legends  Vladimir  has  become  the 
centre  ;  but  in  these  bylinas  he  is  neither  Vladimir,  the  Baptist, 
nor  the  Saint  Vladimir  of  the  orthodox  Church,  but  a  solar 
hero,  successor  of  the  divinities  whom  he  destroyed.  To  the 
people,  still  pagans  at  heart,  Vladimir  is  always  the  "  Beautiful 
Sun  "  of  Kief. 


lAROSLAF   THE    GREAT     (1016-IO54) UNION   OF   RUSSIA SPLEN- 
DOR  OF    KIEF. 

Vladimir  died  in  1015,  leaving  a  large  number  of  heirs  by 
his  numerous  wives.  The  partition  that  he  made  between  them 
of  his  states  tells  us  what  was  the  extent  of  Russia  at  that  epoch. 
To  laroslaf  he  gave  Novgorod  ;  to  Isiaslaf,  son  of  Rogneda,  and 
grandson  of  the  Varangian  Rogvolod,  Polotsk  ;  to  Boris,  Rostof  ; 
to  Gleb,  Mouroni  (these  two  principalities  were  in  the  Finn 
country)  ;  to  Sviatoslaf,  the  Drevlians  ;  to  Vsevolod,  Vladimir 
in  Volhynia  ;  to  Mstislaf,  Tmoutorakan,  the  Tamatarchia  of  the 
Greeks;  finally,  to  his  nephew  Sviatopolk,  the  son  of  his  brother 
and  victim  laropolk,  the  principality  of  Tourof,  in  the  country 
of  Minsk,  founded  by  a  Varangian  named  Tour,  who  did  not  be- 


6a  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

long  to  the  "blood  of  princes  "  any  more  than  Askold  and  Dir. 
The  history  of  Vladimir's  successors  recalls  that  of  the  heirs  of 
Clovis.  The  murder  of  the  sons  of  Clodomir  is  paralleled  by 
the  assassination  of  Boris  and  Gleb,  sons  of  Isapostolos,  by  the 
order  of  Sviatopolk,  who  usurped  the  throne  of  Kief.  His  two 
victims  were  canonized,  and  henceforth  became  inseparable,  and 
are,  as  it  were,  the  Dioscuri  of  orthodoxy.  The  prince  of  the 
Drevlians  perished  by  the  same  hand.  laroslaf  resolved  to 
avenge  his  brothers  and  to  save  himself.  At  this  moment,  how- 
ever, he  had  alienated  his  Novgorodian  subjects,  having  en- 
ticed the  principal  citizens  into  his  castle,  and  then  treacher- 
ously slain  them.  When  he  learnt  the  crimes  of  Sviatopolk,  he 
trembled  for  his  own  life,  and  threw  himself  on  the  generosity 
of  those  he  had  so  cruelly  outraged.  He  wept  for  his  sins  be- 
fore them,  and  besought  their  help.  "  Prince,"  replied  the 
Novgorodians,  with  one  voice,  "  you  have  destroyed  our  breth- 
ren, but  we  are  ready  to  fight  for  you."  After  a  bloody  war,  in 
which  Boleslas  the  Brave,  king  of  Poland  took  part,  the  usurper 
fled,  and  died  miserably  in  exile.  laroslaf  had  still  to  defend 
himself  against  the  Prince  of  Polotsk  and  Mstislaf  of  Tmou- 
torakan.  The  latter  had  acquired  great  fame  from  his  wars 
with  the  Khazars,  whom,  with  the  aid  of  the  Greek  Emperor, 
Basil  n.,  he  finally  annihilated,  and  with  the  Tcherkess,  whose 
chief,  a  giant  named  Rhededia,  he  slew  in  single  combat.  At 
last,  laroslaf  remained  the  sole  master  of  Russia,  and  reigned 
gloriously  at  Kief.  He  recalls  Charles  the  Great  by  some  suc- 
cessful wars,  but  particularly  by  his  code  of  laws,  his  taste  for 
building,  and  his  love  of  letters  in  a  barbarous  age.  He  owes 
part  of  his  reputation  to  the  anarchy  which  followed  his  death, 
and  which  caused  his  reign  to  be  regretted  as  the  climax  of 
Kievian  greatness. 

In  Poland  laroslaf  revenged  on  the  son  of  Boleslas  the 
Brave  the  invasions  of  his  father,  and  took  from  him  the  towns 
of  Red  Russia.  He  fought  a  bloody  battle  with  the  Patzinaks 
under  the  walls  of  Kief,  and  in  their  flight  part  of  the  van- 
quished barbarians  were  drowned  in  crossing  the  rivers.  It  was 
as  fatal  a  blow  to  the  Patzinaks  as  that  struck  by  Sviatoslaf  at 
the  Khazars  :  they  never  recovered  it.  But  in  the  same  man- 
ner as  the  defeat  of  the  Khazars  opened  the  way  to  the  Pat- 
zinaks, the  ruin  of  the  Patzinaks  opened  the  way  to  the  Polovtsi. 
The  steppes  of  the  Don  were  incessantly  filled  by  new  hordes 
from  Asia.  laroslaf  also  fouiiht  airainst  the  Finnish  and  Lilhu- 
anian  tribes.  In  the  country  of  the  Tchouds  he  founded  lounef 
(Saint  George)  on  the  Embach,  near  the  Pei'pus  (the  Germans 
called  it  Dorpat)  ;  in  the  country  of  the  Merians,  he  founded 
laroslavl  on  the  Upper  Volga.     Finally,  his  reign  was  marked 


HIS  TOR  V  OF  A'  USS/A.  63 

by  a  new  war  wiih  Greece,  brought  on  b}'  mercantile  disputes. 
His  son  Vladimir,  leader  of  the  expedition,  rejected  proudly  the 
propositions  of  the  Emperor  Consiantine  Alonomachus.  A 
naval  battle  was  fought  in  the  liosphorus  ;  Greek  fire  and  the 
tempests  of  the  Black  Sea  dispersed  the  Russian  armament. 
Part  of  the  army,  a  body  of  8000  men,  which  was  retreating 
into  Russia  bv  land,  was  attacked  and  exterminated  bv  a  Greek 
force  :  800  prisoners  were  sent  to  Constantinople,  where  their 
eyes  were  put  out.  Notwithstanding  the  bonds  of  religion  which 
had  been  riveted  between  the  Byzantines  and  their  neophytes 
on  the  Dnieper,  the  Russians  were  always  dreaded  by  Constan- 
tinople. An  inscription  hidden  in  the  boot  of  one  of  the  eques- 
trian statues  of  Byzantium  announced  that  the  day  would  come 
when  the  capital  of  the  empire  would  fall  a  prey  to  the  men  of 
the  Nortli.  The  decay  of  Kievian  Russia  after  the  death  of 
laroslaf,  adjourned  or  nullified  the  fulfilment  of  this  prophecy. 

The  legislation  of  the  Russian  Charlemagne  is  comprised  in 
the  Code  entitled  J^ousska'ia  Fravda  the  Rtissian  right  or  verity. 
This  Code  strangely  recalls  that  of  Scandinavia.  It  consecrates 
private  revenge,  and  the  pursuit  of  an  assassin  by  all  the  rela- 
tives of  the  dead  ;  it  fixes  the  wcrgehi  for  different  crimes,  as 
well  as  the  fine  paid  into  the  royal  treasury  ;  it  allows  the  judi- 
cial duel;  the  ordeal  by  red-hot  iron  and  boiling  water;  the 
oath  corroborated  by  those  of  the  compurgaiorcs ;  it  also  estab- 
lished by  the  side  of  the  judges  nominated  by  the  Prince,  a  jury 
of  twelve  citizens.  In  the  "  Rousskaia  Pravda,"  there  is  not, 
properly  speaking,  any  criminal  law.  Capital  punishment,  death 
by  refinements  of  cruelty,  corporal  chastisement,  torture  to 
wring  out  confessions,  even  a  public  prison,  were  all  unknown. 
These  are  Scandinavian  and  German  principles  in  all  their 
purity.  At  this  period  Russia  had  almost  the  same  laws  as  the 
West. 

laroslaf  occupied  a  glorious  place  among  the  princes  of  his 
time.  His  sister  Mary  was  married  to  Casimir,  king  of  Poland ; 
his  daughters  also  became  the  wives  of  kings  :  Elizabeth,  of 
Harold  the  Brave,  king  of  Norway;  Anne,  of  Henry  I.,  king  of 
France  ;  Anastasia,  of  Andrew  I.,  king  of  Hungary.  Of  his 
sons,  Vladimir,  the  eldest,  is  said  to  have  married  Githa,  daugh- 
ter of  Harold,  king  of  England;  Isiaslaf,  a  daughter  of  Micislas 
II.,  king  of  Poland  ;  Vseslaf,  a  Greek  princess,  daughter  of 
Constantine  Monomachus  ;  Viatcheslaf  and  Igor,  two  German 
princesses.  laroslaf  gave  an  asylum  to  the  proscribed  princes. 
Saint  Olaf,  king  of  Norway,  and  his  two  sons ;  a  prince  of 
Sweden  ;  Edwin  and  Edward,  sons  of  Edmund  Ironside,  king  of 
England,  expelled  from  their  country  by  Knut  the  Great.  The 
Varangian  dynasty  was  thus  mingled  with  the  families  of  the 


64  HTSTOR  Y  OF  RUSSIA, 

Christian  princes,  and  we  may  say  of  the  Russia  of  the  nth 
century,  what  we  can  no  longer  say  of  the  Russia  of  the  i6th 
century,  that  she  was  a  European  State. 

To  Kief  was  destined  the  lot  of  Anchen,  the  capital  of 
Charles  the  Great,  which,  glorious  in  his  life,  after  his  death  fell 
into  decay.  Under  laroslaf,  kief  reached  the  highest  pinnacle 
of  splendor.  He  wished  to  make  his  capital  the  rival  of  Con- 
stantinople ;  like  Byzantium,  she  had  her  cathedral  and  her 
Golden  Gate.  The  Grand  Prince  also  founded  the  monastery 
of  Saint  Irene,  of  which  only  a  few  ruins  now  remain,  and  those 
of  Saint  George  and  the  Catacombs,  the  latter  made  illustrious 
by  the  virtues  of  its  first  superiors,  Saint  Theodosius  and  Saint 
Antony.  He  repaired  the  church  of  the  Dime,  and  surrounded 
the  city  with  ramparts.  The  population  began  to  increase,  and 
the  lower  town  to  grow  at  the  feet  of  the  upper.  Kief,  situated 
on  the  Dnieper,  the  great  road  to  Byzantium,  seemed  to  be  part 
of  Greece.  Adam  of  Bremen  calls  her  ceniula  sceptrl  Constatifino- 
folitani  et  clarissimuin  dcciis  Gnecice,  She  was  the  rendezvous 
of  the  merchants  from  Holland,  Hungary,  Germany,  and  Scandi- 
navia, who  lived  in  separate  quarters  of  the  town.  She  had 
eight  markets,  and  the  Dnieper  was  constantly  covered  with 
merchant-sliips.  laroslaf  had  not  enough  Greek  artists  to  dec- 
orate all  the  churches,  nor  enough  priests  to  serve  them,  for 
Kief  was  at  that  time  "  the  city  of  400  churches,"  so  much  ad- 
mired by  the  writers  of  the  West.  What  she  was  then  we  may 
partly  realize  by  seeing  what  she  is  still  at  certain  seasons  of 
the  year.  The  Monastery  of  the  Catacombs,  with  the  incor- 
ruptible bodies  of  its  ascetics  and  thaumaturges,  some  of  whom 
bricked  themselves  up  while  living,  in  the  cell  which  was  to  be 
their  sepulchre,  draws  annually,  and  especially  at  the  Assump- 
tion, 50,000  pilgrims.  Saint  Sophia  was  the  pride  of  Kief  ;  the 
mosaics  of  the  time  of  laroslaf  still  exist,  and  the  traveller  may 
admire  on  the  "  indestructible  wall  "  the  colossal  image  of  the 
Mother  of  God,  the  Last  Supper,  with  a  double  apparition  of 
Christ,  presenting  to  six  of  His  disciples  His  body,  and  to  six 
others  His  blood,  the  images  of  Saints  and  Doctors,  the  Angel 
of  tlie  Annunciation  of  the  Virgin,  The  frescoes  which  have 
been  preserved  or  carefully  restored  are  still  numerous,  and 
everywhere  cover  the  pillars,  the  walls,  and  the  vaults  floored 
with  gokl.  The  inscriptions  are  not  in  Slavonic,  but  in  Greek, 
laroslaf  did  not  forget  Novgorod,  his  first  residence,  and  there 
he  built  another  Saint  Sophia,  one  of  the  most  precious  monu- 
ments of  the  Russian  past.  Like  Charles  the  Great,  he  set  up 
schools.  Vladimir  had  founded  one  at  Kief;  laroslaf  instituted 
that  of  Novgorod  for  300  boys.  He  sent  for  Greek  singers  from 
Byzantium,  who   taught  the  Russian  clergy.     Coins  were  struck 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA.  65 

for  him  by  Greek  artists,  with  his  Slavonic  name  in  Slav  on  one 
side,  and  his  Christian  name,  loury  (George),  on  the  other 
Like  all  other  barbarian  neophytes,  laroslaf  pushed  devotion 
into  superstition.  He  caused  the  bones  of  his  uncles,  who  had 
died  unconverted,  to  be  disinterred  and  baptized.  He  died  in 
1054,  and  his  stone  sarcophagus  is  one  of  the  most  precious 
ornaments  of  Saint  Sophia. 


VARANCJIAN-RUSSIAN  SOCIETY  AT  THE  TIME    OF    lAROSLAF. 

Varangian-Russian  society  presents  more  than  one  analogy 
'\ith  tlie  society  which  was  developed  in  Gaul  after  the  Frank 
conquest.  The  government  of  the  Varangian  princes  some- 
wiiat  resembled  that  of  the  Merovingian  kings. 

The  germ  of  the  future  State  lay  in  the  droi/Jifia,  the  band 
of  warriors  surrounding  the  prince,  as  in  Gaul  it  lay  in  the 
tricste.  The  droi/Jinniki,  like  the  antrustions,  were  the  faithful 
followers,  the  men  of  the  prince.  They  formed  his  guard,  and 
were  his  natural  counc'l  in  all  affairs,  public  or  private.  He 
could  constitute  them  a  court  of  justice,  nominate  them  individ- 
ually vo'ievodes  or  governors  of  fortresses,  or  possadniks  or 
lieutenants  in  the  large  towns.  In  the  same  way  as  the  body 
surrounding  the  Merovingian  kings  was  not  composed  so  entirely 
of  Franks,  but  that  shortly  Gallo-Romans  crept  into  the  antrus- 
tions, so  the  droujina  of  the  Russian  princes  admitted  many 
different  elements,  not  only  Varangian  but  Slav.  INIstislaf, 
prince  of  Tmoutorakan,  had  enrolled  lasses  and  Kassogans  ;  a 
Lithuanian  latiague  is  mentioned  as  being  in  the  droujina  of 
Igor,  a  Hungarian  in  that  of  Boris.  The  military  class  did  not 
form  at  that  time  a  caste  apart  in  Russia  anymore  than  in  Gaul  ; 
Saint  Vladimir  took  into  his  service  the  son  of  a  leather-worker 
who  had  vanquished  the  Patzinak  giant  ;  his  maternal  uncle 
Dobrvna  was  not  even  a  free  man, 

I'he  prince  in  the  middle  of  his  d}-ouji7ia  seems  to  be  only 
the  first  among  his  equals  ;  all  that  he  had  seems  to  belong  to 
his  men.  We  see  them  eat  at  the  same  table,  and  listen  to- 
gether to  the  songs  of  the  blind  poets  who  accompanied  them- 
selves on  the  gouzzla.  It  was  as  it  were  a  family  of  soldiers, 
from  which  one  day  the  Russian  administration  was  to  come. 
The  prince  had  great  respect  for  the  demands  of  his  men.  Those 
of  Vladimir  complained  one  day  that  they  had  to  eat  from 
wooden  bowls.  He  gave  them  silver  ones,  and  added,  "  I  could 
not  buy  myself  a  droujina  with  gold  and  silver  ;  but  with  -^drou- 
ii/ia  I  can  acquire  gold  and  silver,  as  did  my  father  and  my 
grandfather,"      The  prince  did  nothing  without  P'^nsulting  \\is 


66  IflSTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

droit jinniki.  It  was  this  that  prevented  Sviatoslaf  from  listening 
to  the  exhortations  of  Olga  ;  he  said  that  "  his  d)-oujina  would 
mock  him  "  if  he  became  a  Christian. 

The  administration  of  the  Varangian  princes  was  very  elemen- 
tary. Let  us  see  what  the  Arab  writer  Ibn-Dost  says  of  the  way 
they  distributed  justice  :  "  When  a  Russian  has  a  grievance 
with  another,  he  summons  him  before  the  tribunal  of  the  prince, 
where  both  present  themselves.  When  the  prince  has  given 
sentence,  his  orders  are  executed  ;  if  both  parties  are  displeased 
by  the  judgment,  the  affair  must  be  decided  by  arms.  He 
whose  sword  cuts  sharpest  gains  his  cause.  At  the  moment  of 
the  combat  the  relations  of  the  two  adversaries  appear  armed, 
and  surround  the  space  shut  off.  The  combatants  then  come 
to  blows,  and  the  victor  may  impose  any  conditions  he  pleases." 

After  justice,  the  most  important  of  the  princely  functions 
was  the  collection  of  the  tributes.  The  amount  was  fixed  by  the 
prince  himself.  Oleg  imposed  on  the  Drevlians  a  tax  of  a 
marten's  skin  for  every  house.  The  raising  of  taxes  was  always 
very  arbitrary.  Nestor's  account  of  the  death  of  Igor  is  a  lively 
picture  of  the  political  customs  of  the  time ;  we  might  imagine 
ourselves  reading  a  page  of  Gregory  of  Tours  about  the  sons  of 
Clovis,  for  example  the  expedition  of  Thierry  in  Arvernia.  "  In 
the  year  945  the  droiijhia  of  Igor  said  to  him,  'The  men  of 
Sveneld  are  richly  j^rovided  with  weapons  and  garments,  while 
we  go  naked  ;  lead  us,  prince,  to  collect  the  tribute,  so  that  thou 
and  we  may  become  rich.'  Igor  consented,  and  conducted  them 
to  the  Drevlians  to  raise  the  tribute.  He  increased  the  first 
imposts,  and  did  them  violence,  he  and  his  men  ;  after  having 
taken  all  he  wanted,  he  returned  to  his  city.  While  on  the  road 
he  bethought  himself  and  said  to  his  droujina.  '  Go  on  with  the 
tribute ;  I  will  go  back  to  try  and  get  some  more  out  of  them.' 
Leaving  the  greater  part  of  his  men  to  go  on  their  way,  he  re- 
turned with  only  a  few,  to  the  end  that  he  might  increase  his 
riches.  The  Drevlians,  when  thev  learnt  that  Igor  was  re- 
turning,  held  council  with  Mai  their  prince.  '  When  the  wolf 
enters  the  sheepfold  he  slays  the  whole  flock,  if  the  shepherd 
does  not  slay  him.  Thus  it  is  with  us  and  Igor ;  if  we  do  not 
destroy  him,  we  are  lost.'  Then  they  sent  deputies  and  said  to 
him,  '  Why  dost  thou  come  anew  unto  us.'  Hast  thou  not  col- 
lected all  the  tribute  ?'  But  Igor  would  not  hear  them,  so  the 
Drevlians  came  out  of  the  town  of  Korosthenes,  and  slew  Igor 
and  his  men,  for  they  were  but  a  few." 

For  the  government  and  defence  of  the  country  the  prince 
established  the  chief  of  his  droiijinniki  in  different  towns,  sup- 
ported by  adequate  forces.  Tims  Rurik  distributed  the  towns 
of  his  appanage :  he  gave  to   one  of  his  itten  Polotsk,  to  anothei 


HTSTOKY  OF  RUSSIA. 


67 


Rostof,  to  a  third  Bielozersk.  A  principality  was  in  some  sort 
divided  into  fiefs,  but  the  fiefs  were  only  temporary,  and  always 
revokable.  For  the  defence  of  the  frontiers  new  towns  weie 
built,  where  native  soldiers  kept  watch. 

Social  conditions  from  the  9th  to  the  12th  century  were  as 
unequal  as  in  the  West.  The  droujina  of  the  prince,  which 
speedily  absorbed  all  the  Slav  and  Finn  chiefs,  constituted  an 
aristocracy.  Siiil  we  must  distinguish  in  it  those  who  were  only 
simple  guards  or  gridi  (gi/din  among  the  Scandinavians),  the 
vioiiges  or  men  {vir  in  Latin,  baron  in  French),  and  the  boyafds 
who  were  the  most  illustrious  of  all.  The  freemen  of  the  Rus- 
sian soil  were  "  the  people  "  or  lioudi.  The  gosti  or  merchants 
were  not  at  this  period  a  class  apart ;  it  was  in  fact  the  warriors 
or  the  princes  who  pursued  commerce  with  arms  in  their  hands. 
Oleg  was  disguised  as  a  merchant  when  he  surprised  Kief  and 
slew  Askold  and  Dir;  the  Byzantines  mistrusted  these  terrible 
guests,  and  assigned  them  a  separate  quarter,  closely  watched, 
of  Constantinople. 

The  rural  population,  on  whom  the  weight  of  the  growing 
State  was  beginning  to  rest,  was  already  less  free  than  in  primi- 
tive times.  The  peasant  was  called  jwtvv/t' (perhaps  derived  from 
smerdief,  to  stink),  or  jnougik,  insulting  diminutive  oimouge,  man. 
Later  he  became  the  Christian  par  excellence,  krestianine. 

Below  the  peasant,  whose  situation  recalls  that  of  the  Roman 
colonus,  were  the  slaves  properly  so  called,  rain  or  kJinlopy.  The 
slave  might  have  been  taken  in  war,  bought  in  a  market,  born  in 
the  house  of  his  master,  or  have  lost  his  liberty  by  the  mere  fact 
of  fulfilling  certain  ofiices,  such  as  that  of  house-steward.  War 
was,  however,  the  principal  source  of  slavery.  Ibn-Dost  relates 
that  the  Russians,  when  they  marched  against  another  people, 
did  not  depart  without  having  destroyed  everything;  they  carried 
off  the  women,  and  reduced  the  men  to  slavery.  They  main- 
tained a  great  slave-trade  with  foreign  nations.  "  From  Russia," 
said  Sviatoslaf,  the  conqueror  of  Bulgaria,  "  will  be  brought 
skins,  wax,  honey,  and  slaves." 


PROGRESS    OF    CHRISTIANITV — SOCIAL,   POLITICAL,    LITERARY,    AND 

ARTISTIC   RESULTS. 

Russia  had  become  Christian  :  it  is  the  chief  event  in  her 
primitive  history.  An  important  fact  is  that  her  Christianity 
was  received  not  from.  Rome,  like  that  of  the  Poles  and  other 
Western  Slavs,  but  from  Constantinople.  Although  the  separa- 
tion between  the  Churches  of  the  East  and  West  was  not  yet 
fully  consummated,  it  was  evident  that  Russia  would  be  engaged 


6g  HTSTO/^Y  OF  RUSSIA. 

in  what  the  Latins  called  "  the  schism."  It  is  usually  considered 
in  the  West  that  this  fact  exercised  an  evil  influence  on  Russia, 
Now  let  us  see  the  opinion  of  a  Russian  historian,  M.  Bestoujet- 
Rioumine,  on  the  subject.  "What  is  no  less  important  is  that 
Christianity  came  to  us  from  Byzantium,  where  the  Church  put 
forth  no  pretensions  of  governing  the  State,  a  circumstance  which 
Dreserved  us  from  struggles  betv.een  the  secular,  a  national,  and 
the  spiritual,  a  foreign  power.  Excluded  from  the  religious 
unity  of  the  Romano-Germanic  world,  we  have  perhaps  gained 
more  than  we  have  lost.  The  Roman  Church  made  her  ap- 
pearance  with  German  missionaries  in  Slavonic  lands  ;  and  if  she 
did  not  everywhere  bring  with  her  material  servitude,  she  at  least 
introduced  an  intellectual  slavery  by  forcing  men  to  support  for- 
eign interests,  by  bringing  among  them  foreign  elements,  and  by 
establishing  in  all  parts  a  sharp  division  between  the  higher 
classes  who  wrote  and  spoke  in  Latin,  and  the  lower  classes 
who  spoke  the  national  tongue  and  were  without  literature." 

No  doubt  an  ecclesiastical  language  which,  thanks  to  Cyril 
and  Methodius,  mingled  with  the  national  language,  and  became 
intelligible  to  all  classes  of  society;  a  purely  national  Church, 
which  was  subject  to  no  foreign  sway;  the  absolute  independence 
of  the  civil  power  and  of  national  development,  were  the  ines- 
timable advantages  that  Byzantine  Christianity  brought  into 
Russia.  But  if  the  Russian  State  was  free  from  all  obligations 
to  Rome,  she  had  nothing  to  hope  for  from  her.  She  could  not 
reckon  in  her  days  of  peril  on  the  help  that  Spain  received  when 
she  grappled  with  the  Moors;  Germany  in  her  crusades  against 
the  Slavs  and  Finns  ;  Hungary  in  her  national  war  with  the 
Turks.  Separated  from  the  West  by  difference  of  faith,  Russia 
in  the  time  of  the  Mongols,  like  Greece  at  the  epoch  of  the  Ot- 
toman invasion,  saw  no  Europe  arming  in  her  defence. 

Her  princes  were  neither  laid  under  the  pontifical  interdicts, 
like  Robert  of  France,  nor  reduced  to  implore  pardon  at  the  feet 
of  a  Gregory  VII.,  like  Henry  IV.  of  Germany;  humiliations 
always  followed  by  a  swift  revenge,  as  on  the  day  when  Bar- 
barossa  expelled  Alexander  III.  from  Italy,  and  Philip  the  Hand- 
some caused  Boniface  to  be  arrested  in  Anagni.  Humiliations 
still  more  cruel  awaited  the  Russians  at  the  court  of  the  Mongols. 
Another  misfortune  attending  the  entrance  of  the  Russians  into 
the  Greek  Church  is,  that  they  found  themselves  separated  by 
religion  froir>  the  races  to  whom  they  were  bound  by  a  cominon 
origin,  and  who  spoke  almost  their  own  tongue.  It  was  the 
difference  of  religion  which  inflamed  their  long  rivalry  with  the 
Poles,  and  which  at  present  deprives  them  of  much  influence 
over  part  of  the  Slavs.  This  same  difference  of  religion  delayed 
for  them  the  benefits  of  civilization  resulting   from  the  RenaiS' 


nrSTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


(59 


sance  of  the  West,  but  it  spared  them    the  terrible  crisis  of  the 
wars  of  the  Reformation. 

Oriental  Christianity,  with  the  Byzantine  civilization  that  was 
inseparable  from  it,  produced  in  time  a  considerable  transform^ 
ation  in  Russia,  The  first  effect  of  Christianity  was  to  reform 
society,  and  draw  closer  family  ties.  It  condemned  polygamy, 
and  forbade  equal  divisions  between  the  children  of  a  slave  and 
those  of  the  lawful  wife.  Society  resisted  this  new  principle  for 
some  time.  Saint  Vladimir,  even  after  his  conversion,  divided 
his  possessions  equally  among  the  children  the  Church  regarded 
as  natural  and  those  she  considered  legitimate.  In  the  long 
run  Christianity  prevailed,  and  by  the  abolition  of  polygamy  the 
Russian  family  ceased  to  be  Asiatic,  and  became  European. 

Christianity  prescribed  new  virtues,  and  gave  the  ancient 
barbaric  virtues  of  hospitality  and  benevolence  a  more  elevated 
character. 

Yladimir  Monomachus  charged  his  children  to  receive  stran- 
gers hospitably,  because,  says  he,  they  have  it  in  their  power  to 
give  you  a  good  or  evil  reputation.  The  hospitality  of  primitive 
peoples  may  often  be  explained  by  their  need  of  merchants  and 
foreigners.  Pagan  Slavs  were  only  obliged  to  help  those  of  the 
same  association  ;  warriors,  the  members  of  the  same  droiijiiia  ; 
peasants,  those  of  the  same  commune;  merchants  or  artisans, 
those  of  the  same  artel.  Christianity  enjoined  benevolence  to 
all  the  world,  without  hope  of  reward  in  this  life.  It  rendered 
honorable,  weakness,  poverty,  manual  labor.  If  it  prescribed 
excessive  humility,  it  was  useful  at  least  as  a  reaction  against  the 
brutality  of  overweening  pride.  Between  these  two  societies, 
aristocratic  and  religious,  which  rest  on  opposite  and  equally 
exaggerated  principles,  there  would  one  day  be  room  for  lay  and 
civil  society. 

The  influence  of  Christian  principles  was  rather  slow  among 
these  excitable  a. id  ardent  natures,  but  at  last  we  see  in  Russia, 
as  in  the  West,  princes  abjure  their  pride  and  seek  the  peace  of 
tlie  cloister,  like  the  good  King  Robert,  or  Saint  Henry.  In  ihe 
end  it  became  an  established  custom  with  the  Russian  sovereigns 
that,  on  the  approach  of  death,  they  should  be  tonsured,  change 
their  worldly  for  a  monkish  name,  and  so  die  in  the  garb  of  one 
of  the  religious  orders. 

From  a  political  point  of  view,  the  influence  of  Byzantine 
Christianity  was  bound  in  the  long  run  to  cause  a  complete 
revolution.  For  what  was  a  Russian  prince,  after  all,  but  the 
head  of  a  band,  surrounded  by  the  men  of  his  droujina,  and  in  a 
sense  a  foreigner  to  the  land  he  governed  and  on  which  he  levied 
tribute  ?     Properly  speaking,  a  Russian  prince  had  no  subjects. 


yo  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

The    natives    might   always   expel    him — his    droujifiniki  were 
always  free  to  forsake  him. 

The  princes  of  Kief  were  no  more  sovereigns  in  the  modern 
or  Roman  sense  of  the  term,  than  Merwig  or  Clodowig  the  long- 
haired. But  the  priests  who  came  from  Constantinople  brought 
with  them  an  ideal  of  government ;  in  a  little  while  it  was  that 
of  the  Russians  M'ho  entered  the  ranks  of  the  clergy.  This 
Greek  ideal  was  the  Emperor,  the  Tzar  of  Constantinople,  heir 
of  Augustus  and  Constantine  the  Great,  Vicar  of  God  upon  earth, 
the  typical  monarch  on  whom  the  eyes  of  the  barbarians  of  Gaul 
as  well  as  those  of  Scythia  were  fixed.  He  was  a  sovereign  in 
the  fullest  sense  of  the  word,  as,  by  a  legal  fiction,  the  people  by 
the  Lex  Rcgia  was  supposed  to  have  yielded  its  power  to  the 
\mpejator.  He  had  subjects,  and  subjects  only.  Alone  he  made 
the  law  ;  he  zvas  the  law.  He  had  neither  droujinniki  nor  an- 
irnstions  that  he  placed  in  such  and  such  a  town,  but  an  host  of 
movable  functionaries,  the  inviolate  Roman  hierarchy,  by  means 
of  whom  his  all-powerful  will  penetrated  to  the  remotest  parts  of 
his  dominions.  He  was  not  the  leader  of  a  band  of  exacting 
soldiers,  free  to  quit  his  service  for  that  of  another,  but  master 
of  a  standing  army,  to  guard  both  frontiers  and  capital.  He  did 
not  consider  his  states  as  a  patrimony  to  be  divided  between  his 
children,  but  transmitted  to  his  successor  the  Roman  Empire  in 
its  integrity.  He  inherited  his  power,  not  only  from  his  people, 
but  from  God.  His  imperial  ornaments  had, 'like  his  person,  a 
sacred  character  :  and  whenever  the  barbarian  kings  demanded 
one  of  them  at  Constantmople,  whether  it  was  a  crown  enriched 
with  precious  stones,  the  purple  mantle,  the  sceptre  or  the  brode- 
guitjs^  (leggings),  they  were  answered,  that  when  God  gave  the 
Empire  to  Constantinople,  He  sent  these  vestments  by  a  holy 
angel  ;  that  they  were  not  the  work  of  man,  and  that  they  were 
laid  on  the  altar,  and  only  worn,  even  by  the  Emperor,  on 
solemn  occasions.  Leo  the  Khazar  was  said  to  have  been  smit- 
ten with  a  fatal  ulcer  for  having  put  on  the  crown  without  per- 
mission of  the  patriarch. 

An  empire  one  and  indivisible,  resting  on  a  standing  armv, 
a  hierarchy  of  functionaries,  a  national  clergy,  and  a  body  of  jur- 
isconsults,— such  was  the  Roman  Empire,  and  such  it  revived  in 
the  monarchies  of  the  17th  century.  This  was  the  conception  of 
the  Stale,  unknown  to  both  Slavs  and  Varangians,  that  the  Greek 
priests  brought  to  Russia.  Eor  a  long  while  the  reality  answered 
little  to  the  ideal ;  the  princes  continued  in  their  wills  to  divide 
their  soldiers  and  their  lands  among  their  children  ;  but  the  idea 
did  not  perish,  and  if  it  was  never  realized  in  Kievian  Russia,  it 
found  a  more  propitious  soil  in  Muscovite  Russia.  Legislation 
likewise  felt  the  influence  of  Christianity.     Theft,  murder,  and 


HIS IVRY  OF  R USSIA.  y I 

assassination  were  not  locked  upon  by  the  Church  as  private 
offences  for  which  tlie  aggrieved  persons  could  take  reprisals  or 
accept  a  tocrgcld.  They  were  crimes  to  be  punished  by  human 
justice  in  the  name  of  God. 

Yox  private  revenge  IJyzantine  influence  substituted  a  public 
l)enalty  ;  for  the  fine  it  substituted  corporal  punishment,  repug- 
nant to  the  free  barbarian,  and  to  the  instinctive  sentiment  of 
human  dignity.  Imprisonment,  convict  labor,  flogging,  torture, 
nuiiilation,  death  itself,  inflicted  by  more  or  less  cruel  means  ; 
such  was  the  penal  code  of  the  Byzantines. 

The  Greek  bishoj^s  of  the  time  of  St.  Vladimir  had  wished 
that  brigands  should  be  put  to  death,  but  the  custom  was,  and 
long  remained,  against  it.  Vladimir,  after  having  employed  this 
supreme  means  of  repression,  returned  to  the  system  of  the  wer- 
gelJ,  which  besides  helped  to  fill  the  treasury.  The  Byzantine 
mode  of  procedure  likewise  rejected  the  judicial  duel,  the  judg- 
ment of  God  and  the  cotnpurgato7-cs  long  defended  by  habit.  But, 
as  in  Gaul  Roman  law  existed  for  Church  officers  and  part  of  the 
naiives,  side  by  side  with  the  Frank  or  Burgundian  law,  so  in 
Russia  the  Byzantine  codes  of  Justinian  and  Basil  the  Macedonian, 
were  established  at  the  side  of  the  Scandinavian  code  of  laroslaf. 

During  many  centuries  the  two  systems  of  legislation  existed 
together,  each  being  slightly  influenced  by  the  other,  to  the 
time  when  they  were  mingled  in  a  new  code,  the  Oulojenie  of 
Ivan  the  Great,'  and  the  Soudebnik  of  Ivan  the  Terrible. 

The  Bvzantine  literature  which  found  its  wav  into  Russia 
consisted  not  onlv  of  the  sacred  books,  but  also  of  the  Fathers 
of  the  Church,  among  whom  we  may  reckon  some  writers  of 
the  first  order,  like  Saint  Basil  and  Saint  John  Chrysostom  ; 
lives  of  the  saints,  the  inexhaustible  source  of  new  poetry; 
chronicles  destined  to  serve  as  models  to  the  Russian  annalists  ; 
philosophical  and  scientific  books ;  even  romances  such  as 
'  Barlaam  and  Josaphat,'  '  Salomon  and  Kitovras,'  &c.  Though 
this  literature  was  partly  the  fruit  of  B}zantine  decay,  we  may 
perceive  how  it  implanted  fresh  ideas  in  the  mind  of  a  young 
nation,  and  would  largely  influence  the  moral  life  of  the  individ 
ual,  and  public  and  family  life.  We  shall  see  up  to  what  point 
Russian  society  of  the  Middle  Ages  was  modelled  on  the  exam- 
ples afforded  by  this  literature.  Finally,  it  must  not  be  forgotten 
that  Christianity  brought  music  in  its  train  to  a  people  whose 
music  was  highly  primitive,  and  architecture  to  a  people  who  had 
absolutely  none.  It  was  she  who,  to  use  a  Western  expression, 
illuminated  the  Russian  cities  with  magnificent  churches,  and  her 
golden  cupolas  towered  above  the  ramparts  of  mud  that  begirt 
the  cities. 


72  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

RUSSIA    DIVIDED   INTO   PRINCIPALITIES.     SUPREMACY   AND    FALL 

OF   KIEF,    I054-I169. 

Distribution  of  Russia  into  principalities — Unity  in  division — Tlie  successors 
of  laroslaf  the  Great — Wars  about  the  right  of  headshi])  of  the  royal 
family,  and  the  throne  of  Kief — Vladimir  ^lonomachus — Wars  betweeo 
the  heirs  of  Vladimir  Mouomachus — Fall  of  Kief. 


DISTRIBUTION   OF   RUSSIA   INTO   PRINCIPALITIES — UNITY   IN 

DIVISION. 

The  period  that  extends  from  1054,  the  year  of  laroslaf'a 
death,  to  1224,  the  year  of  the  first  appearance  of  the  Tatars, 
or  to  take  the  French  chronology,  from  the  reign  of  Henry  I, 
to  the  death  of  Philip  Augustus,  is  one  of  the  most  confused  and 
troubled  in  Russian  history.  As  the  barbarian  custom  of  di\i- 
sion  continued  to  prevail  over  the  Byzantine  ideas  of  political 
unity,  the  national  territory  was  ceaselessly  partitioned. 

The  princely  anarchy  of  Eastern  Europe  has  its  parallel  in 
the  feudal  anarchy  of  the  West.  M.  Pogodine  reckons  during 
this  period,  sixty-four  principalities  which  had  an  existence  more 
or  less  prolonged,  293  princes  who  disputed  the  throne  of  Kief 
and  other  domains,  and  eighty-three  civil  wars,  in  some  of  which 
the  whole  country  was  engaged.  There  were  besides  foreign 
ft'ars  to  augment  this  immense  heap  of  historical  facts.  Against 
'he  Polovtsi  alone  the  chroniclers  mention  eighteen  campaigns, 
vhile  these  barbarians  made  no  less  than  forty-six  invasions  of 
R-Ussia.  It  is  impossible  to  follow  the  national  chroniclers  in 
the  minute  details  of  their  annals.;  we  will  only  treat  of  the 
principalities  which  lasted  some  time,  and  the  facts  which  were 
the  most  important. 

The  ancient  names  of  the  Slav  tribes  have  everywhere  dis- 
appeared, or  only  remain  in  the  nam(!s  of  some  of  the  towns, 
for  example  that  of  the  Pololchanes  in  Polotsk,  and  that  of  the 
Severians  in  Novgorcnl  Severski.  The  elements  of  which  Russia 
was  now  composed  were  no  longer  tribes,  but  principalities. 
We  hear  no  more  of  the  Krivitches  or  the  Drevlians,  but  of  the 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


73 


principalities  of  Smolensk  and  Volhynia.  These  little  States 
were  perpetually  disnieniberetl  at  each  new  partition  between 
the  sons  of  a  prince,  and  then  were  reconstituted  to  be  divided 
anew  into  appanages. 

Notwithstanding  all  these  vicissitudes,  some  of  them  main- 
tained a  steady  existence,  corresponding  to  certain  topographi- 
cal or  ethnographical  conditions.  Without  speaking  of  the  dis- 
tant principality  of  Tmoutorakan,  situated  at  the  foot  of  the 
Caucasus  in  the  centre  of  Turkish  and  Circassian  tribes,  and 
reckoning  eight  successive  princes,  the  following  are  the  great 
divisions  of  Russia  from  the  nth  to  the  13th  century: — 

1.  The  principality  of  Smolensk  occupied  the  important  ter- 
ritory which  is,  as  it  were,  the  central  point  in  the  mountain 
svstem  of  Russia.  It  comprehends  the  ancient  forest  of  Okof, 
where  three  of  the  largest  Russian  rivers,  the  Volga,  the  Dnii'- 
per,  and  the  Dwina,  take  their  rise.  Hence  the  political  import- 
ance of  Smolensk,  attested  by  all  the  wars  to  gain  possession  of 
her  ;  hence,  also,  her  commercial  prosperity.  We  must  observe 
that  all  her  towns  were  built  on  one  or  the  other  of  these  three 
great  rivers  ;  all  the  commerce,  therefore,  of  ancient  Russia 
passed  through  her  hands.  Besides  Smolensk,  we  must  mention 
Mojai'sk,  Viasma,  and  Toropetz,  which  was  the  capital  of  a 
secondary  principality,  the  property  of  two  celebrated  princes, 
Mstislaf  the  Brave  {khrabryi)  and  Mstislaf  the  Bold  (^Oudalot). 

2.  The  principality  of  Kief  was  Roiiss,  Russia  in  the  strict 
sense  of  the  word.  Her  situation  on  the  Dnieper,  the  neighbor- 
hood of  the  Greek  Empire,  the  fertility  of  the  Black  Land^  for 
long  secured  to  this  State  the  supremacy  over  the  other  Russian 
principalities.  On  the  south  she  bordered  directly  on  the 
nomads  of  the  steppe,  against  whom  her  princes  were  forced  to 
raise  a  barrier  of  frontier  towns.  They  often  took  these  bar- 
barians into  their  pay,  granted  them  lands,  and  constituted  them 
into  military  colonies.  The  principality  of  Pcre'iaslavl  was  a 
dependence  of  Kief  ;  Vychegorod,  Bielgorod,  Tripoli,  Torchesk, 
were  at  times  erected  into  principalities  for  princes  of  the  same 
family. 

3.  On  the  tributaries  of  the  right  bank  of  the  Dnieper, 
notably  the  Soja,  the  Desna  and  the  Scniic,  extended  the  two 
principalities  of  Ir/ieniii^of,  with  Starodoub  and  Loubetch  ;  and 
of  No7'gorod-SeTerski\  with  Poutivl,  Koursk,  and  Briansk.  The 
principality  of  Tchernigof,  which  reached  towards  the  Upper  Oka, 
had  therefore  one  foot  in  the  basin  of  the  Volga;  her  princes, 
the  Olgovitches,  were  the  most  formidable  rivals  of  Kief.  The 
princes- of  Severski  were  always  occupied  with  their  ceaseless 
wars  against  the  Polovtsi,  their  neighbors  on  the  south.     It  was 


74 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


a  prince  of  Severski  whose  exploits  against  these  barbarians 
formed  the  subject  of  a  sort  of  cJianson  de  gcste,  the  Soni^  of  Igor, 
or  the  Account  of  the  Expedition  of  Igor  (S7o7'0  o  polkon  Igore'vie.) 

4.  Another  principaUty,  whose  very  existence  consisted  in 
endless  war  against  the  nomads,  was  the  double  principality  of 
Riazivi  and  Mourom.  Her  principal  towns  were  Riazan,  Mou- 
rom,  Pereiaslavl-Riazanski,  situated  on  the  Oka,  Kolomna  at 
the  junction  of  the  Moskowa  with  the  Oka,  and  the  Pronsk  on 
the  Prona.  The  Upper  Don  formed  its  western  boundary. 
This  principality  was  placed  in  the  very  heart  of  the  Mouromians 
and  Mechtcheraks,  Finnish  tribes.  The  reputation  of  her  in- 
habitants, who  were  reckoned  warlike  in  character,  and  rough 
and  brutal  in  manners,  was  no  doubt  partly  the  result  of  the 
mixture  of  the  Russian  race  with  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  the 
country,  and  of  their  perpetual  and  bloody  struggle  with  the 
nomad  tribes. 

5.  The  double  principalities  of  Souzdal,  with  their  towns  of 
Souzdal,  Rostof,  lourief-Polski  on  the  Kolocha,  Vladimir  on  the 
Kliazma,  laroslavl,  and  Pereiaslavl-Zaliesski,  were  situated  on 
the  Volga  and  the  Oka  amongst  the  thickest  of  northern  forests, 
and  in  the  middle  of  the  Finnish  tribes  of  Mouromians,  Merians, 
Vesses,  and  Tcheremisses.  Although  placed  at  the  furthest  ex- 
tremity of  the  Russian  world,  Souzdal  exercised  an  important 
influence  over  it.  \\&  shall  find  her  princes  now  establishing 
a  certain  political  authority  over  Novgorod  and  the  Russia  of 
the  Lakes,  the  result  of  a  double  economic  dependence  ;  now 
intervening  victoriously  in  the  quarrels  of  the  Russia  of  the 
Dneiper.  The  Souzdalians  w^ere  rough  and  warlike,  like  the 
Riazanese.  Already  we  can  distinguish  among  these  two  peo- 
ples the  characteristics  of  anew  nationality.  That  which  divides 
them  from  the  Kievians  and  the  men  of  Novgorod-Severski,  oc- 
cupied like  themselves  in  the  great  war  wiih  the  barbarians,  is 
the  fact  that  the  Russians  of  the  Dnieper  sometimes  mingled 
their  blood  with  that  of  their  enemies,  and  became  fused  with 
the  nomad,  essentially  mobile  Turkish  races,  whilst  the  Russians 
of  the  Oka  and  the  Volga  united  with  the  Finnish  tribes,  agri- 
cultural and  essentially  sedentary.  This  distinction  between  the 
two  foreign  elements  that  entered  the  Slav  blood,  had  doubtless 
contributed  to  the  difference  in  the  characters  of  the  two 
branches  of  the  Russian  race.  From  the  nth  to  the  i3lh  cen- 
tury, in  passing  from  the  basin  of  the  Dneiper  to  the  basin  of 
the  Volga,  we  can  already  watch  the  formation  of  Great  and 
Little  Russia. 

6.  The  principalities  of  Kief,  Tchernigof,  Novgorod-Severski, 
Riazan,   Mourom,  and   Souzdal,  situated  on  the   side   of   tha 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA.  yc 

Steppe  with  its  devastating  hordes,  formed  the  frontier  Slates, 
the  Marches  of  Russia.  The  same  role,  on  the  nortii-west  oppo- 
site the  Lithuanians,  Letts,  and  Tchouds,  fell  to  the  principality 
of  Folotsk,  which  occupied  the  basin  of  the  I3wina  ;  and  to  the 
republican  principalities  of  Novgorod  and  Fskof  ox\  the  lakes 
Ilmen  and  Peipus.  To  the  principality  of  Polotsk,  that  of 
Minsk  was  attached,  which  lay  in  the  basin  of  the  Dnieper.  The 
possession  of  Minsk,  thanks  to  its  situation,  was  often  disputed 
by  the  Grand  Princes  of  Kief.  To  Novgorod  belonged  the 
towns  of  Torjok,  Volok-Lamski.  Izborsk,  and  Veliki-Louki, 
which  were  at  times  capitals  of  particular  States. 

South-east  Russia  comprehended — i.  Volhyiiia  in  the  fan- 
shaped  distribution  of  rivers  formed  by  the  Pripet  and  its  tribu- 
taries, with  Vladimir-in-Volhynia,  Loutsk,  Tourof,  Brest,  and 
even  Lublin,  which  is  certainly  Polish.  2.  Gallicia  proper,  or 
Red  Russia,  in  the  basin  of  the  San,  the  Dniester,  and  the 
Pripet,  whose  ancient  inhabitants  the  White  Croats  seemed  to 
have  sprung  from  the  stock  of  the  Danubian  Slavs.  Her  chief 
towns  were  Galitch,  founded  by  Vladimirko  about  1 144,  Peremysl, 
Terebovl,  and  Zvenigorod.  The  neighborhood  of  Hungary  and 
Poland  gave  a  special  character  to  these  principalities,  as  well 
as  a  more  advanced  civilization.  The  epic  songs  speak  of  Gal- 
licia, the  native  land  of  the  hero  Diouk  Stepanovitch,  as  a 
fabuloush'-rich  country.  The  Tale  of  ike  Expedition  0/  Igor  gwes 
us  a  high  idea  of  the  power  of  these  princes.  "  laroslaf  Os- 
momysl  of  Gallicia!  "  cried  the  poet  to  one  of  them,  "  thou  art 
seated  very  high  on  thy  throne  of  wrought  gold;  with  thy  regi- 
ments of  iron  thou  sustainest  the  Carpathians  ;  thou  closest  the 
gates  of  the  Danube  ;  thou  barrest  the  way  to  the  king  of  Hun- 
gary ;  thou  openest  at  thy  will  the  gates  of  Kief,  and  with 
thine  arrows  thou  strikest  from  afar  !  " 

The  disposition  of  these  fifteen  or  sixteen  principalities  con- 
firms all  that  we  have  said  about  the  essential  unity  of  the  con- 
figuration of  the  Russian  soil.  Not  one  of  the  river-basins  forms 
an  isolated  and  closed  region.  There  is  no  line  of  heights  to 
establish  barriers  between  them  or  political  frontiers.  The 
greater  number  of  the  Russian  principalities  belong  to  the 
basin  of  the  Dneiper,  but  extend  everywhere  beyond  its  limits. 
The  principality  of  Kief,  with  Pereiaslavl,  is  nearly  the  only  one 
completely  confined  within  it  ;  but  Volhynia  puts  the  basin  of 
the  Dnieper  in  communication  with  those  of  the  Bug  and  the 
Vistula,  Polotsk  with  the  basins  of  the  Dnieper  and  the  Dwina, 
Novgorod-Severski  with  the  basin  of  the  Don,  Tchernigof  and 
Smolensk  with  the  basin  of  the  Volga.  Water-courses  ever}'- 
wher*,  established  communications  between   the   principalities. 


76 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


Already  Russia,  though  broken  up  into  appanages,  had  the 
germs  of  a  great  united  empire.  The  slight  cohesiun  of  nearly 
all  the  States,  and  their  frequent  dismemberments,  prevented 
them  from  ever  becoming  the  homes  of  real  nationalities.  The 
principalities  of  Smolensk,  Tchernigof,  and  Riazan  have  never 
possessed  as  definite  an  historic  existence  as  the  duchy  of  Bre- 
tagne  or  the  county  of  Toulouse  in  France,  or  the  duchies  of 
Saxony,  Suabia,  and  Bavaria  in  Germany. 

The  interests  of  the  princes,  their  desire  to  create  appanages 
for  each  of  their  children,  caused  a  fresh  division  of  the  Russian 
territory  at  the  death  of  every  sovereign.  There  was,  however, 
a  certain  cohesion  in  the  midst  of  all  these  vicissitudes.  There 
was  a  unity  of  race  and  language,  the  more  sensible,  notwith- 
standing all  dialectic  differences,  because  the  Russian  people 
was  surrounded  everywhere,  except  at  the  south-west,  by  entirel^^' 
strange  races,  Lithuanians,  Tchouds,  Finns,  Turks,  Magyars. 
There  was  a  unity  of  religion  ;  the  Russians  differed  from 
nearly  all  their  neighbors,  fc"  in  contrast  with  the  Western 
Slavs,  Poles,  Tcheques,  and  Moravians,  they  represented  a 
particular  form  of  Christianity,  not  owning  any  tie  to  Rome,  and 
rejecting  Latin  as  the  language  of  the  Church.  There  was  the 
unity  of  historical  development,  as  up  to  that  time  the  Russo- 
Slavs  had  all  followed  the  same  road,  had  accepted  Greek  civili- 
zation, submitted  to  the  Varangians,  pursued  certain  great  en- 
terprises in  common — such  as  the  expeditions  against  Byzantium 
and  the  war  with  the  nomads.  Finally,  there  was  political  unity, 
since  after  all  in  Gallicia  as  in  Novgorod,  on  the  Dnieper  as  in 
the  forests  of  Souzdal,  it  was  the  same  family  that  filled  all  the 
thrones.  All  these  princes  descended  froni  Rurik,  Saint  Vladi- 
mir, and  Laroslaf  the  Great.  Tiie  fact  that  the  wars  that  laid 
waste  the  country  were  civil  wars,  was  a  new  proof  of  this  unity. 
The  dilTerent  parts  of  Russia  could  not  consider  themselves 
strangers  one  to  the  other,  when  they  saw  the  princes  of  Tcher- 
nigof and  Souzdal  taking  up  arms  to  prove  which  of  them  was 
the  eldest,  and  which  consequently  had  most  right  to  the  title 
of  Grand  Prince  and  the  throne  of  Kief.  There  were  descend- 
ants of  Rurik  who  governed  successively  the  remotest  States  of 
Russia,  and  who,  after  having  reigned  at  Tmoutorakan  on  the 
Straits  of  lenikale,  at  Novgorod  the  Great,  at  Toropetz  in  the 
country  of  Smolensk,  ended  by  establishing  their  right  to  reign  at 
Kief.  In  spite  of  the  division  into  appanages,  Kief  continued  tc 
be  the  centre  of  Russia.  It  was  there  that  Oleg  and  Igor  hac 
reigned,  that  Vladimir  had  baptized  his  people,  and  larosla' 
had  established  the  metropolis  of  the  faith,  of  arts,  and  of  na- 
tional civilization.     It  is  not  surprising  that  she  should  have 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


77 


been  more  fiercely  disputed  than  all  the  other  Russian  cities. 
Russia  had  many//-///a'j';  but  she  had  only  one  Grand  Frlnct 
(^Veliki-kniaz) — the  one  who  reigned  at  Kief.  He  had  a  rec- 
ognized supremacy  over  the  others  which  he  owed  not  only  to 
the  importance  of  his  capital,  but  to  his  position  as  eldest  of  the 
royal  family.  Kiyf,  the  mother  of  Russian  cities,  was  always  to 
belong  to  \\\q  eldest  oi  the  descendants  of  Rurik;  this  was  the 
consequence  of  the  patriarchal  system  of  the  Slavs,  as  was  the 
custom  of  divi?ion.  When  the  Grand  Prince  of  Kief  died,  his 
son  was  not  his  rightful  heir;  but  his  uncle  or  brother,  or  which 
ever  of  the  princes  was  the  eldest.  Then  the  whole  of  Russia, 
from  the  Celtic  to  the  Black  Sea,  held  itself  in  readiness  to  sui> 
port  the  claims  of  this  or  that  candidate.  It  was  the  same  with 
the  other  principalities,  where  the  possessors  of  different  ap- 
panages aspired  to  reign  in  the  metropolis  of  the  region.  The 
civil  wars,  then,  themselves  strengthened  the  sentiments  of 
Russian  unity.     What  were  they,  after  all,  but  family  quarrels  ? 


THE     SUCCESSORS     OF     lAROSLAF    THE    GREAT WARS     FOR      THE 

RIGHTS    OF    ELDERSHIP     AND    THE   THRONE     OF    KIEF VLADI- 
MIR   MONOMACHUS. 

The  persistent  conflict  between  the  Byzantine  law,  by  which 
the  son  inherited  the  possessions  of  the  father,  and  the  old  na- 
tional law  of  the  Slavs  which  caused  them  to  pass  to  the  eldest 
of  all  the  family,  was  an  inexhaustible  source  of  civil  wars. 
Even  had  the  law  been  perfectly  clear,  the  princes  were  not 
always  disposed  to  recognize  it.  Thus,  although  the  eldest  of 
laroslaf's  sons  had  in  his  favor  the  formal  will  of  his  father,  giv- 
ing him  the  throne  of  Kief,  and  though  laroslaf  on  his  deathbed 
had  desired  his  other  sons  to  respect  their  elder  brother  as  they 
had  done  their  parent,  and  look  on  him  as  their  father,  Isiaslaf 
at  once  found  his  brother  Sviatoslaf  ready  to  take  up  arms  and 
overturn  his  throne  (1073).  He  was  obliged  to  seek  refuge  at 
the  Court  of  Henry  IV.  of  Germany,  who  sent  an  embassy  to 
Kief,  commanding  Sviatoslaf  to  restore  the  throne  of  Isiaslaf. 
Sviatoslaf  received  the  German  envoys  with  such  courtesy,  made 
them  such  a  display  of  his  treasures  and  riches,  that,  dazzled  by 
the  gold,  they  adopted  a  pacific  policy.  Henry  IV.  himself, 
disarmed  by  the  liberalities  of  the  Russian  prince,  spoke  no 
more  of  chastising  the  usurper.  Isiaslaf  did  not  return  to  Kief 
till  after  the  death  of  his  rival  (1076). 

When  his  own  death  took  place  (1078),  his  son  Sviatopolk 
did  not  succeed  him  immediatel}^     It  w-as  necessary  that  all  the 


7  8  HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA. 

heirs  of  laroslof  should  be  exhausted.  Vsevolod,  a  brother  of 
Isiaslaf,  whose  daughter  married  the  Emperor  Henry  IV.,  or 
Henry  V. — it  is  not  quite  certain  which — reigned  for  fifteen 
years  (1078-1093).  In  accordance  w'ith  the  same  principle,  it 
was  not  the  son  of  Vsevolod,  Vladimir  Monomachus,  who  suc- 
ceeded his  father;  but  after  the  crown  had  been  worn  by  a  new 
generation  of  princes,  it  returned  to  the  blood  of  Isiaslaf.  Vladi- 
mir  Monomachus  made  no  opposition  to  the  claims  of  Sviatopolk 
Isiaslavitch.  "  His  father  was  older  than  mine,"  he  said,  "and 
reigned  first  in  Kief,"  so  he  quitted  the  principality  which  he 
had  governed  with  his  father,  and  valiantly  defended  a2;ainst 
the  barbarians.  But  everyone  was  not  so  respectful  to  the  na- 
tional law  as  Vladimir  Monomachus. 

Two  terrible  civil  wars  desolated  Russia  in  the  reign  of  the 
Grand  Prince  Sviatopolk  (1093-1113):  one  about  the  princi- 
pality of  Tchernigof,  the  other  about  Volhynia  and  Red  Russia. 
Sviatoslaf  had  enjoyed  Tchernigof  as  his  share,  to  which 
Tmoutoraken  in  the  Taurid,  jNIourom  and  Riazan  in  the  Finn 
country,  were  annexed.  Isiaslaf  and  Vsevolod,  Grand  Princes 
of  Kief,  had  despoiled  the  sons  of  Sviatoslaf,  their  brother,  de- 
priving them  of  the  rich  territory  of  Tchernigof,  and  only  leaving 
them  Tmoutorakan  and  the  Finnish  country.  Even  Vladimir 
Monomachus,  whom  we  have  seen  so  disinterested,  had  accepted 
a  share  of  the  spoil.  The  injured  princes  were  not  people  to 
bear  this  meekly,  especially  the  eldest,  Oleg  Sviatoslavitch,  one 
of  the  most  enersretic  men  of  the  nth  century.  He  called  the 
terrible  Polovtsi  to  his  aid,  and  subjected  Russia  to  frightful 
ravages.  Vladimir  Monomachus  was  moved  by  these  misfor- 
tunes ;  he  wrote  a  touching  letter  to  Oleg,  expressing  his  sorrow 
for  having  accepted  Tchernigof.  At  his  instigation  a  Congress 
of  Princes  met  at  Loubetch,  on  the  Dnieper  (1097).  Seated  on 
the  same  carpet,  they  resolved  to  put  an  end  to  the  civil  wars 
that  handed  the  country  as  a  prey  to  the  barbarians.  Oleg  re- 
covered Tchernigof,  and  promised  to  unite  with  the  Grand 
Prince  of  Kief  and  Vladimir  Monomachus  against  the  Polovtsi. 
The  treaty  was  ratified  by  the  oath  of  each  prince,  who  kissed 
the  cross  and  swore,  "That  henceforth  the  Russian  land  shall 
be  considered  as  the  country  of  us  all  ;  and  whoso  shall  dare 
to  arm  himself  against  his  brother  becomes  our  common 
enemy." 

In  Volhynia,  the  prince,  David,  was  at  warwdthhis  nephews, 
Vassilko  and  Volodar.  The  Congress  of  Loubetch  had  divided 
the  disputed  territories  between  them,  but  scarcely  was  the  treaty 
ratified  when  David  went  to  the  Grand  Prince  Sviatopolk  and 
persuaded  him  that  Vassilko  had  a  design  on  his  life.     With  the 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA.  79 

light  faith  hal)iuial  to  the  men  of  that  date,  tlie  Grand  Prince 
joined  David  in  framing  a  plot  to  attract  Vassilko  to  Kief  on  the 
occasion  of  a  religious  ftte.  When  he  arrived  he  was  loaded 
with  chains,  and  the  Grand  Prince  convoked  the  boyarcis  and 
citizens  of  Kief,  to  denounce  to  them  the  pretended  projects  of 
Vassilko.  '-Prince,"  replied  the  boyards,  much  embarrassed, 
"thy  tranquillity  is  dear  to  us.  Vassilko  merits  death,  if  it  is 
true  that  he  is  thine  enemv ;  but  if  he  is  calumniated  bv  David, 
God  will  avenge  on  David  the  blood  of  the  innocent."  Thereon 
the  Grand  Prince  delivered  Vassilko  to  his  enemy  David,  who 
put  out  his  eyes.  The  other  descendants  of  laroslaf  I.  were  in- 
dignant at  this  crime.  Vladimir  Monomachus  united  with  Oleg 
of  Tchernigof,  his  ancient  enemy,  and  marched  against  Sviato 
polk.  The  people  and  clergy  of  Kief  succeeded  in  preventing  a 
civil  war  between  the  Grand  Prince  and  the  confederates  of  Lou- 
betch.  Sviatopolk  was  forced  to  disavow  David,  and  swear  to 
join  the  avengers  of  Vassilko.  David  defended  himself  with 
vigor,  and  summoned  to  his  help,  first  the  Poles,  and  then  the 
Hungarians.  At  last  a  new  congress  was  assembled  at  Viti- 
tchevo  (iioo),  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Dnieper,  a  town  of  which 
a  deserted  gorodichtcht  is  all  that  now  remains.  As  a  punish- 
ment for  his  crime,  David  was  deprived  of  his  principality  of 
Vladimir  in  Volhynia,  and  had  to  content  himself  with  four  small 
towns.  After  the  new  settlement  of  this  affair,  Monomachus 
led  the  other  princes  against  the  Polovtsi,  and  inflicted  on  them 
a  bloody  defeat ;  seventeen  of  their  khans  remained  on  the  field 
of  battle.  One  khan  who  was  made  prisoner  offered  a  ransom 
to  Monomachus  ;  but  the  prince  showed  how  deeply  he  felt  the 
injuries  of  ihe  Christians — he  refused  the  gold,  and  cut  the 
brigand  chief  in  pieces. 

When  Sviatopolk  died,  the  Kievians  unanimoush'-  declared 
they  would  have  no  Grand  Prince  but  Vladimir  Monomachus. 
Vladimir  declined  the  honor,  alleging  the  claims  of  Oleg  and 
his  brothers  to  the  throne  of  Kief.  During  these  negotiations, 
a  sedition  broke  out  in  the  city,  and  the  Jews,  whom  Sviatopolk 
had  made  the  instruments  of  his  fiscal  exactions,  were  pillaged. 
Monomachus  was  forced  to  yield  to  the  prayers  of  the  citizens. 
During  his  reign  (i  r  13-1 125)  he  obtained  great  successes  against 
the  Polovtsi,  the  Patzinaks,  the  Torques,  the  Tcherkesses,  and 
other  nomads,  He  gave  an  asvlum  to  the  remains  of  the  Kha- 
zars,  who  built  on  the  Oster,  not  far  from  Tchernigof,  the  town 
of  Belovega.  The  ruins  of  this  city  that  remain  to-day  prove 
that  this  Finnish  people,  eminently  perfectible,  and  already  civ- 
ilized by  the  Greeks,  were  further  advanced  in  the  arts  of  con- 
srruction  and  fortification  than  even   the  Russians  themselves. 


8o  HISTORY  OF  K        I  A. 

According  to  one  tradition,  Monomachus  also  made  war  on  the 
Emperor  Alexis  Comnenus,  a  Russian  army  invaded  Thrace,  and 
the  Bishop  of  Ephesus  is  said  to  have  brought  gifts  to  Kief, 
among  others  a  cup  of  cornelian  that  had  belonged  to  Augustus, 
besides  a  crown  and  a  throne,  still  preserved  in  the  Museum  at 
Moscow  under  the  name  of  the  crown  and  throne  of  Monoma- 
chus. It  is  at  present  ascertained  that  they  never  belonged  to 
Vladimir,  but  it  was  the  policy  of  his  descendants,  the  Tzars  of 
Moscow,  to  propagate  this  legend.  It  was  of  consequence  to 
them  to  prove  that  these  ensigns  of  their  power  were  traceable 
to  their  Kievian  ancestor,  and  that  the  Russian  Monomachus, 
grandson  of  the  Greek  Monomachus,  had  been  solemnly  crowned 
by  the  Bishop  of  Ephesus  as  sov'ereign  of  Russia. 

The  Grand  Prince  made  his  authority  felt  in  other  parts  of 
Russia.  A  Prince  of  Minsk  who  had  the  temeritv  to  kindle  a 
civil  war,  was  promptly  dethroned,  and  died  in  captivity  at  Kief. 
The  Novgorodians  saw  many  of  their  boyards  kept  as  hostages, 
or  exiled.  The  Prince  of  Vladimir  in  Volhynia  was  deposed, 
and  his  states  given  to  a  son  of  the  Grand  Prince. 

Monomachus  has  left  us  a  curious  paper  of  instructions  that 
he  compiled  for  his  sons,  and  in  which  he  gives  them  much  good 
advice,  enforced  by  examples  drawn  from  his  own  life.  "  It  is 
neither  fasting,  nor  solitude,  nor  the  monastic  life,  that  will  pro- 
cure you  the  life  eternal — it  is  well-doing.  Do  not  forget  the 
poor,  but  nourish  them.  Do  not  bury  your  riches  in  the  bosom 
of  the  earth,  for  that  is  contrary  to  the  precepts  of  Christianity.* 
Be  a  father  to  orphans,  judge  the  cause  of  widows  yourself.  .  .  . 
Put  to  death  no  one,  be  he  innocent  or  gni/fv,  for  nothing  is  more 

sacred  than   the    soul  of  a  Christian Love  your  wives, 

but  beware  lest  they  get  the  power  over  you.  When  you  have 
learnt  anything  useful,  try  to  preserve  it  in  your  memory  and 
strive  ceaselesslv  to  get  knowledsfe.  Without  ever  leaving  his 
palace,  my  father  spoke  five  languages,  a  thing  that  foreigners 
admire  in  jis.  .  .  I  have  made  altogether  twenty-three  campaigns 
without  counting  those  of  minor  importance.  I  have  concluded 
nineteen  treaties  of  peace  with  the  Polovtsi,  taken  at  least  loo 
of  their  princes  prisoners,  and  afterwards  restored  them  to  liberty  ; 
besides  more  than  200  whom  I  threw  into  the  rivers.  No  one 
has  travelled  more  rapidly  than  I.  If  I  left  Tchernigof  very 
early  in  the  morning,  I  arrived  at  Kief  before  vespers.     Some 

*  To  bnrv  riches  in  the  eartli  is  the  custom  with  wliich  tlie  Emperor  Mau- 
rice re])roachesihe  Slavs  of  his  time,  and  which  is  to  this  clay  characteristic 
of  the  Russian  peasants.  Often  the  head  of  the  family  dies,  without  having 
revealed  the  hiding-place  to  his  children.  Treasure  trove  is  frequent  iv 
Russia. 


Ceown  called  "The  Cap  of  Monomachus.'? 


HIS  TOR  V  OF  RUSSIA.  8l 

times  in  tlic  middle  of  the  thickest  forests,  I  caught  wild  horses 
myself,  and  bonnd  them  together  with  my  own  hands.  How 
many  times  I  have  been  thrown  from  the  saddle  by  buffaloes, 
struck  by  the  horns  of  the  deer,  trampled  under  foot  by  the 
elands  !  A  furious  boar  once  tore  my  sword  from  my  belt ;  my 
saddle  was  rent  by  a  bear,  which  threw  my  horse  down  under 
me  !  How  many  falls  I  had  from  my  horse  in  my  youth,  when, 
heedless  of  dansrer,  I  broke  mv  head,  I  wounded  mv  arms  and 
legs  !     But  the  "Lord  watched  over  me  !  " 

Vladimir  completed  the  establishment  of  the  Slav  race  in 
Souzdal,  and  founded  a  city  on  the  Kliazma  that  bore  his  name, 
and  that  was  destined  to  play  a  great  part.  Such,  in  the  begin- 
ning of  the  1 2th  century,  when  Louis  VI.  was  fighting  with  his 
barons  of  the  Isle  de  France,  was  the  ideal  of  a  Grand  Prince 
of  Russia. 


fV^ARS   BETWEEN  THE   HEIRS   OF  VLADIMIR   MONOMACHUS — FALL  OF 

KIEF. 

Of  the  sons  of  Vladimir  Monomachus,  George  Dolgorouki 
Oecame  the  father  of  the  Princes  of  Souzdal  and  Moscow,  and 
Mslislaf  the  father  of  the  Princes  of  Galitch  and  Kief.  These 
two  branches  were  often  at  enmity,  and  it  was  their  rivalry  that 
struck  the  final  blow  at  the  prosperity  of  Kief.  When  Isiaslaf, 
son  of  Mstislaf  (1146-1154),  was  called  to  the  throne  by  the 
inhabitants  of  the  capital,  his  uncle,  George  Dolgorouki,  put 
forward  his  rights  as  the  eldest  of  the  family.  Kief,  which  had 
been  already  many  times  taken  and  re-taken  in  the  strife  between 
the  Olgovitchcs  (descendants  of  Oleg  of  Tchernigof)  and  the 
Motiomachivitches  (descendants  of  Vladimir  Monomachus),  was 
fated  to  be  disputed  anew  between  the  uncle  and  the  nephew. 
It  was  almost  a  war  between  the  Old  and  New  Russia,  the 
Russia  of  the  Dnieper  and  that  of  the  Volga.  The  Princes  of 
Souzdal,  who  dwelt  afar  in  the  forests  in  the  north-west,  establish- 
ing their  rule  over  the  remnants  of  the  Finnish  races,  were  to 
become  greater  and  greater  strangers  to  Kievian  Russia.  If 
they  still  coveted  the  "  mother  of  Russian  cities,"  because  the 
title  of  Grand  Prince  was  attached  to  it,  they  at  least  began  to 
obey  and  to  venerate  it  less  than  the  other  princes. 

George  Dolgorouki  found  an  ally  against  Isiaslaf  in  one  of 
the  Olgovitches,  Sviatoslaf,  who  thirsted  to  avenge  his  brother 
Igor,  dethroned  and  kept  prisoner  in  Kief  by  the  Grand  Prince. 
The  Kievians  hesitated  to  support  the  sovereign  they  had  chosen  ; 
they  hated  the  Olgovitches,  but  in  their  attachment  to  the  blood 


8  2  HIS  TOR  YOF  R  USSIA. 

of  Monomachus,  they  respected  his  son  and  his  grandson  equally, 
"  We  are  ready,"  they  said  to  Isiaslaf,  "  we  and  our  children,  to 
make  war  on  the  sons  of  Oleg,  But  George  is  your  uncle,  and 
can  we  dare  to  raise  our  hands  against  the  son  of  Monomachus  ?  " 
After  the  war  had  histed  some  time,  a  decisive  dattle  was  fought. 
At  the  battle  of  Pereiaslavl,  Isiaslaf  was  completely  defeated, 
and  took  refuge,  with  two  attendants,  in  Kief.  The  inhabitants, 
who  had  lost  many  citizens  in  this  War,  declared  they  were  un- 
able to  stand  a  sicire.  The  Grand  Prince  theii  abandoned  his 
capital  to  George  Dolgorouki  and  retired  to  Vladimir  in  Volhynia, 
whence  he  demanded  help  from  his  brother-in-law,  the  King  of 
Hungary,  and  the  kings  of  Poland  and  Bohemia.  With  these 
reinforcements  he  surprised  Kief,  and  nearly  made  his  uncle 
prisoner.  Understanding  that  the  national  law  was  against  him, 
he  opposed  eldest  7aith  eldest  and  declared  himself  the  partisan 
of  another  son  of  Monomachus,  the  old  Viatcheslaf,  Prince  of 
Tourof.  He  was  proclaimed  Grand  Prince  of  Kief  (ii 50-1 154), 
adopted  his  nephew  Isiaslaf  as  his  heir,  and  gave  splendid  fetes 
to  the  Russians  and  Hungarians.  George  returned  to  the  charge, 
and  was  beaten  un  ler  the  walls  of  Kief.  P^ach  of  these  princes 
had  taken  barbarians  into  his  pay  :  George,  the  Polovtsi ;  Isiaslaf 
the  Black  Caps,  that  is  the  Torques,  the  Patzinaks,  and  the 
Berendians. 

The  obstinate  Prince  of  Souzdal  did  not  allow  himself  to  be 
discouraged  by  this  check.  The  old  Viatcheslaf,  who  only  desired 
peace  and  quiet,  in  vain  addressed  him  letters,  setting  forth  his 
rights  as  elder.  "  I  had  already  a  beard  when  you  entered  the 
world,"  he  said,  George  proved  himself  intractable,  and  went 
into  Gallicia  to  effect  a  junction  with  his  allv,  Vladimirko,  Prince 
of  Galitch.  This  Vladimirko' had  violated  the  oath  he  had  taken 
and  confirmed  by  kissing  the  cross.  When  they  reproached  him, 
he  said,  with  a  tiueer,  "  It  w^as  such  a  little  cross."  To  prevent 
this  dangerous  co-operation,  Isiaslaf,  without  waiting  the  expected 
arrival  of  the  Hungarians,  began  the  pursuit  of  George,  and 
came  up  with  him  on  the  borders  of  the  Rout,  a  small  tributary 
of  the  Dnieper.  A  bloody  battle  was  fought,  where  he  himself 
was  wounded  and  thrown  from  his  horse,  but  the  Souzdalians 
and  their  allies  the  Polovtsi  were  completely  defeated  (1151). 
Isiaslaf  survived  this  victory  only  three  years.  After  his  death 
and  that  of  Viatcheslaf,  Kief  passed  from  hand  to  hand.  George 
ended  by  reaching  the  supreme  object  of  his  desires.  He  made 
his  entry  into  the  capital  in  1155,  and  had  the  consolation  of 
dying  Grand  Prince  of  Kief  at  the  moment  that  a  league  was 
being  formed  for  his  expulsion  (1157).  "I  thank  Thee,  great 
God,"  cried  one  of  the  confederates  on  learning  the  news,  "for 


HIS  TOR  Y  OF  HUSS/A.  83 

having  spared  us,  by  the  sudden  death  of  our  enemy,  the  obliga- 
tion of  shedding  his  blood  !  " 

Tiie  confederates  entered  tlie  town  ;  one  of  them  assumed 
the  title  of  Grand  Prince,  the  others  divided  his  territories. 
Henceforth  there  existed  no  Grand  Principality,  properly  speak- 
ing, and  with  the  growing  power  of  Souzdal,  Kief  ceased  to  be 
the  capital  of  Russia.     A  final  disaster  was  still  reserved  for  her. 

!n  1 169,  Andrew  Ijogolioubski,  son  of  George  Dolgorouki 
and  i'rince  of  Souzdal,  being  disaffected  to  Mstislaf,  Prince  of 
Kief,  formed  against  him  a  coalition  of  eleven  princes.  He  con- 
fided to  his  son  Mstislaf  and  his  voievode  Boris  an  immense 
army  of  Rostovians,  Vladimiris,  and  Souzdalians  to  march 
against  Kief.  This  time  the  Russia  of  the  forests  triumphed 
over  Russia  of  the  steppes,  and  after  a  three  days'  siege  Kief 
was  taken  bv  assault.  "This  mother  of  Russian  cities,"  savs 
Karamsin,  "  had  been  many  times  besieged  and  oppressed. 
She  had  often  opened  her  Golden  Gate  to  her  enemies,  but  none 
had  ever  yet  entered  by  force.  To  their  eternal  shame,  the 
victors  forgot  that  they  too  were  Russians !  During  three 
days  not  only  the  houses,  but  the  monasteries,  churches,  and 
even  the  temples  of  Saint  Sophia  and  the  Dime,  were  given  over 
to  pillage.  The  precious  images,  the  sacerdotal  ornaments,  the 
books,  and  the  bells,  all  were  taken  away.'' 

From  this  time  the  lot  of  the  capital  of  Saint  Vladimir,  pil- 
laged and  dishonored  by  his  descendants,  ceases  to  have  a  gen- 
eral interest  for  Russia.  Like  other  parts  of  Slavonia,  she  has 
her  princes,  but  the  heads  of  the  reigning  families  of  Smolensk, 
Tchernigof,  and  Galitch  assume  the  title,  formerly  unique,  of 
Grand  Prince.  The  centre  of  Russia  is  changed.  It  is  now  in 
the  basin  of  the  Volga,  at  Souzdal.  Many  causes  conspired  to 
render  the  disaster  of  1169  irremediable.  The  chronic  civil  wars 
of  this  part  of  Russia,  and  the  multitudes  and  growing  power  of 
nomad  hordes,  rendered  the  banks  of  the  Dnieper  uninhabitable. 
In  1203  Kief  was  again  sacked  by  the  Polovtsi,  whom  the  Olgo- 
vitches  of  Tchernigof  had  taken  into  their  pay.  On  this  soil,  inces- 
santly the  prey  of  war  and  invasion,  it  was  impossible  to  found 
a  lasting  order  of  things  ;  it  was  impossible  that  a  regular  system 
of  government  should  be  established — that  civilization  should 
develop  and  maintain  itself.  Less  richly  endowed  by  nature,  and 
less  civilized,  the  Russia  of  the  forests  was  at  least  more  tran- 
quil. It  was  there  that  a  grand  principality  was  formed,  called 
to  fulfil  high  destinies,  but  which  unhappily  was  to  be  separated 
for  three  hundred  years,  by  the  southern  steppes  and  the  nomads 
who  dwelt  there,  from  the  Black  Sea ;  that  is,  from  Byzantine 
and  Occidental  civilization. 


84  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA, 


CHAPTER  VII. 

RUSSIA  AFTER    THE   FALL   OF    KIEF.      POWER   OF   SOUZDAL  AND 

GALLICIA,   1 169-1224, 

Andrew  Bogolioubski  of  Souzdal  (1157-1174),  and  the  first  attempt  at  autoc- 
racy— George  II.  (121 2-1 238) — Wars  with  Novgorod — Battle  of  Lipetsk 
(1216) — Foundation  of  Nijni-Novgorod  (1220) — Roman  (1188-1205)  andhis 
son  Daniel  (1205-1264)  in  Gallicia. 


ANDREW    BOGOLIOUBSKI    OF    SOUZDAL     (1157-I174)   AND    THE 
FIRST    ATTEMPT   AT   AUTOCRACY. 

After  the  fall  of  the  grand  principality  of  Kief,  Russia 
ceased  to  hav^e  a  centre  round  which  her  whole  mass  could 
gravitate.  Her  life  seemed  to  be  withdrawn  to  her  extremities  ; 
and  during  the  fifty  four  years  which  preceded  the  arrival  of 
the  Mongols,  all  the  interest  of  Russian  history  is  concentrated 
on  the  principality  of  Souzdal,  on  that  of  Galitch,  and  on  the 
two  republics  of  Novgorod  and  Pskof. 

George  Dolgorouki  was  the  founder  of  Souzdal,  but  we  have 
seen  him  expend  all  his  energy  in  securing  possession  of  the 
throne  of  Kief.  His  son  Andrew  Bogolioubski  was,  on  the  con- 
trary, a  true  prince  of  Souzdal.  From  him  are  descended  the 
Tzars  of  Moscow;  with  him  there  appears  in  Russian  hiscory 
quite  a  new  type  of  prince.  It  is  no  longer  the  chivalrous  light- 
hearted  careless  ktiiaz,  in  turn  a  prey  to  all  kinds  of  opposing 
passions,  the  joyous  kniaz  of  the  happy  land  of  Kief — but  an 
ambitious,  restless,  politic,  and  imperious  sovereign,  going 
straight  to  his  goal  without  scruple  and  without  pity.  Andrew 
had  taken  an  aversion  to  the  turbulent  cities  of  the  Dnieper, 
where  the  assemblies  of  citizens  sometimes  held  the  power  of 
the  prince  in  check.  In  Souzdal,  at  least,  he  found  himself  in 
the  centre  of  colonists  planted  by  the  prince,  who  never  dreamed 
of  contesting  his  authority  :  he  reigned  over  towns  which  for  the 
most  part  owed  their  existence  to  his  ancestors  or  himself. 
During  the  lifetime  of  his  father  George,  he  had  quitted  the 
Dnieper  and  his  palace  at  Vychegorod,  had  established  himself 
on  the  Kliazma,  bringi'ng  with  him  a  Greek  image  of  the  mother 
of  God,  had  enlarged  and  fortified  Vladimir,  and  founded  a 
quarter  that  he  called  Bogolioubovo. 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


8S 


When  after  the  death  of  George  the  grand  principality  be- 
came vacant,  he  allowed  the  princes  of  the  south  to  dispute  it 
among  themselves.  He  only  wished  to  mix  with  their  quarrels 
as  far  as  would  suffice  for  the  recognition  of  his  authority,  not  at 
Kief,  but  at  Novgorod  the  Great,  then  bound  by  the  closest  ties 
to  Souzdal.  He  established  one  of  his  nephews  as  his  lieuten- 
ant at  Novgorod.  A  glorious  campaign  against  the  Bulgarians 
increased  his  reputation  in  Russia.  He  deserved  more  than 
anyone  to  be  Grand  Prince  of  Kief,  but  we  have  seen  that  he 
preferred  to  pillage  it — that  he  preferred  a  sacrilegious  spoil  to 
the  throne  of  Monomachus. 

After  having  destroyed  the  splendor  and  power  of  Kief, 
and  guided  by  the  sure  instinct  that  afterwards  led  Ivan  the  Great 
and  Ivan  the  Terrible  against  Novgorod,  he  longed  to  subdue 
the  great  republic  to  a  narrower  dependence.  "  The  fall  of 
Kief,''  says  Karamsin,  "  seemed  to  presage  the  loss  of  Novgorod 
liberty ;  it  was  the  same  army,  and  it  was  the  same  prince 
(Mstislaf  Andreievitch)  who  commanded  it.  But  the  Kievians, 
accustomed  to  change  their  masters — to  sacrif^ca  the  vanquished 
to  the  victors — only  fought  for  the  honor  of  their  princes,  while 
the  Novgorodians  were  to  shed  their  blood  for  th^  defence  of  the 
laws  and  institutions  established  by  their  ancestors."  Mstis- 
laf, w'ho  had  forced  the  princes  of  Smolensk,  Riazan,  Mourom, 
and  Polotsk  to  join  him,  put  the  territories  of  the  republic  to 
fire  and  sword,  but  only  succeeded  in  exasperating  the  courage- 
ous citizens.  When  fighting  began  under  the  walls  of  the  town, 
the  Novgorodians,  to  inflame  themselves  for  the  combat,  re- 
minded each  other  of  the  pillage  and  the  sacrilege  with  which 
their  adversaries  had  polluted  the  holy  city  of  Kief.  All  swore 
to  die  for  St.  Sophia  of  Novgorod  ;  their  archbishop,  Ivan,  took 
the  image  of  the  Mother  of  God  and  paraded  it  with  great  pomp 
round  the  walls.  It  is  said  that  an  arrow  shot  by  a  Souzdalian 
soldier  having  struck  the  image  of  the  Virgin,  her  face  turned 
towards  the  city,  and  inundated  the  vestments  of  the  archbishop 
with  miraculous  tears.  Instantly  a  panic  seized  the  besiegers. 
The  victory  of  the  Novgorodians  was  complet>^  ;  they  slew  a 
multitude  of  their  enemies,  and  made  so  many  prisoners,  that 
according  to  the  contemptuous  expression  of  their  chronicler, 
"You  could  get  six  Souzdalians  for  a  grivna  (1170)."  Their 
dependence  on  Souzdal  for  corn  soon  forced  them  to  make 
peace.  They  abandoned  none  of  the  ancient  rights  of  the  repub- 
lic, but  of  "  their  own  free  will,"  according  to  the  consecrated 
expression,  they  accepted  as  sovereign  the  prince  nominated  for 
them  by  Andrew  of  Souzdal. 

Andrew  about  this  time  lost  his  only  son,  his  heir,  Mstislaf. 


86  HISTOR  Y  OF  R USSTA. 

The  knowledge  that  in  future  he  would  be  working  for  his  col 
lateral  relatives  no  whit  diminished  his  ambition  or  his  arro- 
gance. The  princes  of  Smolensk,  David,  Rurik,  and  Mstislaf 
the  Brave,  could  not  endure  his  despotic  ways,  and,  in  spite  of 
his  threats,  took  Kief.  The  Olgovitches  of  Tchernigof,  delighted 
to  see  discord  kindled  between  the  descendants  of  Monomachus, 
incited  Andrew  to  revenge  this  injury.  So  he  sent  a  herald  to 
the  princes  of  Smolensk,  to  say  to  them,  "  You  are  rebels  ;  the 
principalitv  of  Kief  is  mine.  I  order  Rurik  to  return  to  his 
patrimony  of  Smolensk,  and  David  to  retire  to  Berlad  ;  I  can  no 
longer  bear  his  presence  in  Russia,  nor  the  presence  of  Mstislaf, 
the  most  guilty  of  you  all." 

Mstislaf  the  Brave,  say  the  chroniclers,  "  feared  none  but 
God."  When  he  received  Andrew's  message,  he  shaved  the 
beard  and  hair  of  the  messenger,  and  answered  him  :  "  Go,  and 
vepeat  these  words  unto  your  prince — '  Up  to  this  time  we  have 
respected  you  like  a  father,  but  since  you  do  not  blush  to  treat 
lis  as  your  vassals  and  common  people,  since  you  have  forgotten 
that  you  speak  to  princes,  we  mock  at  your  menaces.  Execute 
them — we  appeal  to  the  judgment  of  God.'  "  The  judgment  of 
God  was  an  encounter  under  the  walls  of  Vychegorod,  besieged 
by  more  than  twenty  princes,  allies  or  vassals  of  Andrew  of 
Souzdal.  Mstislaf  succeeded  in  dividing  the  assailants,  and 
completed  their  defeat  by  a  victorious  sortie,  1173. 

When  Andrew  came  to  establish  himself  in  the  land  of 
Souzdal,  the  inhabitants  themselves  elected  him  their  prince,  to 
the  exclusion  of  other  members  of  the  family.  But  this  enemy 
of  municipal  liberty  had  no  intention  of  fixing  his  residence 
either  at  Rostof  or  Souzdal,  the  two  most  ancient  cities  of  the 
principality,  which  had  their  assembly  of  citizens,  their  vefchif. 
From  the  beginning  he  conceived  the  project  of  raising  above 
them  a  new  town,  Vladimir  on  the  Kliazmaj  considered  by 
Rostof  and  Souzdal  merely  a  subject  borough.  To  give  a  plaus- 
ible pretext  to  this  resolution  he  had  his  tent  pitched  on  the 
road  to  Souzdal  ten  versts  from  Vladimir,  and  installed  himself 
there  with  his  miraculous  image  of  the  Virgin  which  came  from 
Constantinople,  and  was,  we  are  assured,  the  work  of  St.  Luke. 
The  next  day  he  announced  that  the  Mother  of  God  had  ap- 
appeared  to  him  in  a  dream,  and  had  commanded  him  to  place 
her  image,  not  at  Rostof,  but  at  Vladimir.  He  was  likewise  to 
build  a  church  and  a  monastery  to  the  Virgin  on  the  spot  where 
she  made  herself  manifest;  this  was  the  origin  of  the  village  of 
Bogolioubovo.  Andrew  preferred  Vladimir  to  the  old  cities,  but 
it  was  in  his  house  at  Bogolioubovo  that  he  best  liked  to  ]i\e. 
lie  tried  to  make  of  Vladimir  a  new  Kief,  as  Kief  herself  was  a 


HIS  TORY  OF  R  USSIA,  8  7 

tiev/  Byzantium.  There  were  at  Vladimir  a  Golden  Gate,  a 
Chuich  of  the  Dime  consecrated  to  the  Virgin,  and  numer- 
ous monasteries  built  by  the  artists  summoned  by  Andrew  from 
':he  West. 

Andrew  sought  the  friendship  of  the  priests,  whom  he  felt  to 
be  one  of  the  great  forces  of  the  future.  He  posed  as  a  jjious 
prince,  rose  often  by  night  to  burn  tapers  in  the  churches,  and 
publicly  distributed  alms  in  abundance.  After  a  victory  over  the 
Bulgarians  of  the  Volga,  he  obtained  leave  from  the  Patriarch 
of  Constantinople  to  establish  a  commemorative  feast.  It 
happened  that  on  the  same  day  that  Andrew  triumphed  over  the 
Bulgarians,  thanks  to  the  image  of  the  Virgin,  the  Emperor  Man- 
uel had  won  a  victory  over  the  Saracens  bv  means  of  the  true 
cross  and  the  image  of  Christ  represented  on  his  standard.  One 
anniversary  served  for  both  victories  of  orthodoxy,  and  Vladimir 
was  in  harmony  with  Byzantium.  Andrew  was  anxious  to  make 
Vladimir  a  metropolitan  city.  At  the  same  time  that  he  robbed 
Kief  of  the  grand  principality,  he  would  have  deprived  her  of 
the  religious  supremacy  of  Russia,  and  given  his  new  city  th* 
spiritual  as  well  as  the  temporal  power.  This  time  the  patriarch-* 
refused,  but  the  attempt  was  one  day  to  be  renewed  by  th» 
princes  of  Moscow. 

What  more  particularly  proves  this  prince — who  had  rise« 
from  the  conception  of  appanages  to  that  of  the  indivisible 
modern  state — to  have  been  superior  to  his  century,  to  have  hack 
sure  instincts  as  to  the  future,  is  that  he  declined  to  share  bis 
dominions  with  his  brothers  and  nephews.  In  spite  of  the  tes- 
tamentary directions  of  George,  he  expelled  his  three  brothers 
from  Souzdal,  and  they  retired  with  their  mother,  a  Greek 
princess,  to  the  court  of  the  Emperor  Manuel.  It  appears  tha< 
this  measure  was  advised  by  the  men  of  Souzdal.  The  subjects 
then  had  the  same  instinct  of  unity  as  the  prince.  If  he  broke 
with  the  patriarchal  custom  of  appanages,  and  wished  to  reign 
alone  in  Vladimir,  he  broke  equally  with  the  Varangian  tradition 
of  the  droiijifia  ;  he  treated  his  men,  his  bovards,  not  as  com- 
panions, but  as  subjects.  Those  who  refused  to  bow  to  his  will 
had  to  leav3  the  countrv.  We  mav  sav  that  Andrew  Bosfolioub- 
ski  created  autocrac}''  300  years  before  its  time.  He  indicated 
in  the  12th  century  all  that  the  Grand  Princes  of  Moscow  had 
to  do  in  the  15th  and  16th  centuries,  to  attain  absolute  power. 
His  mistrust  of  municipal  liberty,  his  despotic  treatment  of  the 
boyards,  his  efforts  to  suppress  the  appanages,  his  proud 
attitude  towards  the  other  Russian  princes,  his  alliance  with  the 
clergy,  and  his  project  of  transporting  to  the  basin  of  the  Oka 
the  religious  metropolis  of  all  the  Russias,  are  the  indications  ol 


B8  HIS  TOR  y  OF  R  USSIA. 

a  political  programme  that  ten  generations  of  princes  did  not 
suffice  to  carry  out.  The  moment  was  not  yet  come  ;  Andrew 
had  not  enough  power,  nor  Souzdal  resources  enough  to  sub- 
jugate the  rest  of  Russva.  Andrew  succeeded  against  Kief,  but 
he  endured  a  double  check  from  Novgorod  the  Great,  and  from 
Mitislaf  the  Brave,  and  the  princes  of  the  south.  His  despotism 
made  him  terrible  enemies.  His  boyards,  whom  he  tried  to 
reduce  to  obedience,  assassinated  him  in  his  favorite  residence 
of  Bogolioubovo  (1174). 


GEORGE    II.      (12  1 2-1 238)  —  WARS    WITH    NOVGOROD — BATTLE    OF 
LIPETSK  (12  16) NIJNI-NOVGOROD  FOUNDED  (l22o). 

The  death  of  this  remarkable  man  was  followed  by  great 
troubles.  The  common  people  attacked  the  houses  of  rich  men 
and  magistrates,  gave  them  up  to  pillage,  and  committed  so 
many  murders  that  to  establish  quiet  the  clergy  were  forced  to 
have  a  procession  of  images.  The  unpunished  murders  show 
how  premature  was  the  autocratic  attempt  of  Andrew.  His 
succession  was  disputed  between  his  nephews  and  his  two 
brothers  Michael  and  Vsevolod,  who  had  returned  from  Greece. 
The  nephews  were  supported  by  the  old  cities  of  Rostof  and 
Souzdal,  which  were  animated  by  a  violent  hatred  of  thcparvenue 
city  of  Vladimir,  that  had  torn  from  them  the  title  of  capital, 
.■ind  had  taken  up  the  cause  of  Michael  and  Vsevolod.  "  The 
Vladimirians,"  said  the  Rostovians,  "  are  our  slaves,  our  masons  ; 
let  us  burn  their  town,  and  set  up  there  a  governor  of  our  own," 
The  Vladimirians  had  the  advantage  in  the  first  war,  and  caused 
Michael,  the  elder  of  Andrew's  brothers,  to  be  recognized  Grand 
Prince  of  Souzdal.  At  his  death  the  Rostovians  refused  to  re- 
cognize the  other  brother  Vsevolod,  surnamed  the  Big-A^est,  on 
account  of  his  numerous  posterity.  They  resisted  all  proposals 
of  compromise,  declaring  that  "  their  arms  alone  should  do 
them  right  on  the  vile  populace  of  Vladimir."  It  was,  on  the 
contrary,  the  vile  populace  of  Vladimir  who  put  the  boyards  of 
Rostof  in  chains.  The  two  ancient  cities  were  forced  to  submit ; 
Vladimir  remained  the  capital  of  Souzdal.  Vsevolod  (1176- 
1212)  managed  to  secure  himself  on  the  throne  by  defeating  the 
])rinces  of  Riazan  and  Tcliernigof.  He  extended  his  influence 
to  the  distant  Galitch,  and  contracted  matrimonial  alliances  with 
the  princes  of  Kief  and  Smolensk,  He  reduced  the  Novgorodians 
to  beg  for  one  of  his  sons  as  their  prince,  "  Lord  and  Grand 
Prince,"  said  the  envoys  of  the  republic  to  him,  "  our  country  is 
your  patrimony  ;  we  entreat  you  to  send  us  the  grandson  of 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA.  89 

George  Dolgorouki,  the  great-grandson  of  Monomachus,  to 
govern  us."  The  prhices  of  Riazan  having  incurred  his  dis- 
pleasure, he  united  their  states  to  his  principality.  Riazan  re- 
belled, and  was  reduced  lo  ashes,  and  the  inhabitants  trans- 
ported to  the  solitudes  of  Souzdal.  This  prince,  who  has  like- 
wise been  called  "  The  Great,"  exhibited  in  his  designs  the 
prudence,  the  spirit  of  intrigue,  constancy,  and  tirmness  which 
characterized  tiie  princes  of  the  Russia  of  the  forests.  At  his 
death  (12 12)  the  troubles  began  again.  Dissatisfied  with  his 
eldest  son  Constantine,  prince  of  Novgorod,  Vsevolod  had  given 
the  grand  principality  of  Novgorod  to  his  second  son,  George 
II.  Constantine  had  to  content  himself  with  Rostof  ;  a  third 
brother,  laroslaf,  prince  of  Pere'iaslavl-Zaliesski,  had  been  sent 
to  Novgorod, 

laroslaf  quarrelled  with  his  turbulent  subjects,  left  their 
town  and  installed  himself  at  Torjok,  a  city  in  the  territory  of 
Novgorod,  where  he  betook  himself  to  hindering  the  passage  of 
the  merchants  and  boyards.  Their  communications  with  the 
Volga  were  intercepted  ;  he  preuented  the  arrival  of  corn,  and 
reduced  the  town  to  starvation.  The  Novgorodians  were  obliged 
to  eat  the  bark  of  pines,  moss,  and  lime-leaves.  The  streets 
were  filled  with  the  bodies  of  the  wretched  inhabitants,  which 
the  dogs  devoured.  laroslaf  was  implacable.  He  persisted  in 
remaining  at  Torjok,  refused  to  return  to  Novgorod,  and  arrested 
all  envovs  sent  to  him.  He  treated  Novgorod  as  his  father  had 
treated  Rostof  and  Souzdal.  But  help  arrived  to  the  despair- 
ing citizens  in  the  person  of  a  prince  of  Smolensk,  Mstislaf  the 
Bold,  son  of  Mstislaf  the  Brave.  "  Torjok  shall  not  hold  her- 
self higher  than  Novgorod,"  he  cried  ;  "  I  will  deliver  your 
lands  and  your  citizens,  or  leave  my  bones  among  you."  Thus 
Mstislaf  became  prince  of  Novgorod  ;  and  as  he  saw  that  the 
Grand  Prince  of  Vladimir  supported  his  brothers,  he  sought  an 
ally  in  Constantine  of  Rostof,  who  was  discontented  with  his 
inheritance.  The  Novgorodian  quarrel  speedily  expanded  into 
a  general  war,  and  Mstisaf  contrived  to  make  Souzdal  the  scene 
of  strife.  Before  a  battle  he  tried  to  effect  a  reconciliation  be- 
tween the  two  princes  of  Vladimir  and  Rostof.  But  George 
answered,  "  If  my  father  was  not  able  to  reconcile  me  with 
Constantine,  has  Mstislaf  the  right  to  judge  between  us  }  Let 
Constantine  be  victorious  and  all  will  be  his."  This  strife  be- 
tween the  three  sons  of  Big-Nest  had  all  the  fierceness  of  frater- 
nal warefare.  Before  the  battle  George  and  laroslaf  issued 
orders  that  quarter  was  to  be  given  to  no  one,  to  kill  even  those 
•who  had  "  embroideries  of  gold  on  their  shoulders  ;  "  that  is, 
the  princes  of  the  blood.      Already  they  had  decided  on  the 


Q  o  HIS  TOR  V  or  J^USSTA. 

partition  of  Russia,  But  the  troops  of  Novgorod,  Pskof,  and . 
Smolensk  attacked  them  with  such  fury  that  those  of  Souzdal 
and  Mourom  gave  way,  and  it  was  the  soldiers  of  Mstislaf  who 
in  their  turn  gave  no  quarter.  Nine  thousand  men  were  killed 
and  only  sixty  prisoners  taken.  George  threw  off  his  royal 
clothes,  wore  out  the  strength  of  three  horses,  and  with  the 
fourth  just  managed  to  reach  Vladimir.  (Battle  of  Lipetsk,  near 
Pereiaslavl-Zaliesski,  1216.)  Constanline  then  became  Grand 
Prince  of  Vladimir,  and  ceded  Souzdal  to  his  brother  George, 
laroslaf  was  obliged  to  renounce  Novgorod,  and  release  the  cap- 
tive citizens. 

At  the  death  of  Constantino  (12 17)  George  regained  the 
throne  of  Vladimir.  Under  him  the  expeditions  against  the 
Bulgarians  of  the  Volga  and  the  Mordvians  were  continued. 
These  expeditions  were  organized  both  by  land  and  water;  the 
infantry  descended  the  Oka  and  the  Volga  in  boats,  the  cavalry 
marched  alon^  the  banks.  Thev  attacked  and  burnt  the  wooden 
forts  of  the  Bulgars,  and  destroyed  the  population. 

During  a  campaign,  conducted  by  George  in  person  along 
the  whole  length  of  the  Volga,  he  noticed  a  small  hill  on  its  right 
bank,  near  its  junction  with  the  Oka.  Here,  in  the  midst  of  the 
Mordvian  tribes,  he  founded  Nijni-Novgorod  (1220).  A  Mord- 
vian  tradition  gives  its  own  account  of  this  important  event. 
"  The  prince  of  the  Russians  sailed  down  the  Volga  ;  on  the 
mountain  he  perceived  the  jMordva  in  a  long  white  coat,  adoring 
her  god  ;  and  he  said  to  his  warrors, '  What  is  that  white  birch  that 
bends  and  sways  up  there,  above  its  nurse  the  earth,  and  inclines 
towards  the  east  ? '  He  sent  his  men  to  look  nearer,  and  they 
came  back  and  said,  '  It  is  not  a  birch  that  bends  and  sways,  it 
is  the  INIordva  adoring  her  god.  In  their  vessels  they  have  a 
delicious  beer,  pancakes  hang  on  sticks,  and  their  priests  cook 
their  meat  in  caldrons.'  The  elders  of  the  Mordva,  hearing  of  the 
Russian  prince,  sent  young  men  with  gifts  of  meat  and  beer. 
But  on  the  road  the  young  men  ate  the  meat  and  drank  the  beer, 
and  only  brought  the  Russian  prince  earth  and  water.  The 
prince  was  rejoiced  at  this  present,  which  he  considered  as  a 
mark  of  submission  of  the  Mordva.  He  continued  to  descend 
the  Volga  :  where  he  threw  a  handful  of  this  earth  on  the  bank, 
a  town  sprang  up  :  where  he  threw  a  pinch  of  this  earth,  a  village 
was  born.  It  was  thus  that  the  Mordvian  land  became  subject 
to  the  Russians." 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA, 

ROMAN    (l  188-1205)   AND    HIS   SON   DANIEL   (1205-1264)    IN 

GALITCH. 


9« 


Galitch  offers  a  remarkable  contrast  to  Souzdal  ;  peopled  by 
Khorvates  or  White  Croats,  she  had  preserved  a  purely  Slavonic 
character  in  spite  of  her  conquest  by  Varangian  princes.  "  The 
prince,"  says  M.  Kostomarof,  "  was  a  prince  of  the  old  Slavonic 
type.  He  was  elected  by  a  popular  assembly,  and  kept  his 
crown  by  its  consent." 

The  assembly  itself  was  governed  by  the  richest  men  of  the 
countrv,  the  boyards.  Under  the  influence  of  Polish  and  Hun- 
garian ideas  the  boyards  had  raised  themselves  above  the  mass 
of  the  people,  and  formed  a  strong  aristocracy  which  really 
ruled  the  country.  When  laroslaf  Osmomysl  (glorified  in  the 
Song  of  Igor)  neglected  his  lawful  wife  Olga  for  his  mistress 
Anastasia,  the  nobles  rose,  burnt  Anastasia  alive,  and  obliged 
the  prince  to  send  away  his  natural  son,  and  to  recognize  his 
legitimate  son  Vladimir  as  his  heir. 

When  Vladimir  became  prince,  he  lost  no  time  in  incurring 
their  hatred.  He  was  accused  of  abandoning  himself  to  vice 
and  drunkenness,  of  despising  the  councils  of  wise  men,  of  dis- 
honoring the  wives  and  daughters  of  the  nobles,  and  of  having 
married  as  his  second  wife  the  widow  of  a  priest.  It  did  not 
need  all  this  to  exhaust  the  patience  of  the  Gallicians.  They 
summoned  Vladimir  to  give  up  the  woman  that  they  might  punish 
her.  Vladimir  took  fright,  and  fled  to  Hungary  with  his  family 
and  his  treasures.  This  was  all  the  boyards  desired,  and  they 
offered  the  throne  to  Roman,  prince  of  A^olhynia  (i  i88).  But 
Bela,  king  of  Hungary,  brought  back  the  fugitive  prince  with  an 
army,  and  entered  Galitch.  There  he  suddenly  changed  his 
mind,  and  coveted  this  beautiful  country,  rich  in  salt  and  miner- 
als, for  himself.  He  threw  his /w/c'^/ Vladimir  into  prison,  and 
proclaimed  his  own  son  Andrew.  The  Hungarian  yoke  seemed 
naturally  more  heavy  to  the  Gallicians  than  the  authority  of  their 
easy-going  princes.  They  expelled  the  strangers,  and  recalled 
Vladimir,  who  had  found  means  to  escape,  and  had  taken  refuge 
with  P'rederick  Barbarossa.  When  Vladimir  died,  Roman  of 
Volhynia  resolved  at  all  hazards  to  enter  Galitch.  His  rival  had 
previously  appealed  to  the  Hungarians,  so  he  applied  to  the 
Poles,  and,  with  an  auxiliary  army  given  him  by  Casimir  the 
Just,  he  reconquered  Galitch.  The  turbulent  boyards  had  at 
last  found  their  master. 

This  time  Roman  held  the  crown,  not  by  election,  but  by  con- 
quest. He  resolved  to  subdue  the  proud  aristocracy.  The  Po- 
lish Bishop  Kadloubek,  a  contemporary  writer,  who  sympathsized 


Q  2  ffIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA. 

with  the  oligarchs,  draws  a  frightful  picture  of  the  vengeance 
exercised  by  Roman  on  his  enemies.  They  were  quartered, 
buried  alive,  riddled  with  arrows,  delivered  over  to  horrible  tor- 
tures. He  had  promised  pardon  to  those  who  had  fled;  but 
when  they  returned,  he  accused  them  of  conspiracy,  condemned 
them  to  death,  and  confiscated  their  goods.  "  To  eat  a  drop  of 
honey  in  peace,"  he  said  cynically,  "  you  must  first  kill  the  bees." 
The  kussian  chroniclers,  on  the  contrary,  praise  him  highly.  He 
was  another  Monomachus,  an  invincible  and  redoubtable  hero, 
who  "  walked  in  the  ways  of  God,  exterminated  the  heathen,  flung 
himself  like  a  lion  upon  the  infidels,  was  savage  as  a  wildcat,  deadly 
as  a  crocodile,  swooped  on  his  prey  like  an  eagle."  More  than 
once  he  vanquished  the  Lithuanian  tribes  and  the  Polovtsi  ;  in 
the  civil  wars  of  Russia  he  was  likewise  victorious,  and  gave  to 
one  of  his  relations  the  throne  of  Kief.  He  attracted  the  atten- 
tion of  the  great  Pope,  Innocent  HI.,  who  sent  missionaries  tn 
convert  him  to  the  Catholic  faith,  promising  to  make  him  a  great 
king  by  the  sword  of  Saint  Peter,  Drawing  his  own  sword, 
Roman  proudly  answered  the  envoys  of  Innocent :  "  Has  the 
Pope  one  like  mine  ?  While  I  wear  it  at  my  side,  I  have  no  need 
of  another's  blade."  In  1205,  when  he  was  engaged  in  a  war 
with  Poland,  he  imprudently  ventured  too  far  from  his  army  on 
the  banks  of  the  Vistula,  and  perished  in  an  unequal  combat. 
His  exploits  were  long  remembered  in  Russia,  and  the  '  Chroni- 
cle of  Volhynia'  gives  him  the  surname  of  "  the  Great,"  and 
"  the  Autocrat  of  all  the  Russias."  A  historian  of  Lithuania  re- 
lates that,  after  his  victories  over  the  barbarous  inhabitants  of 
that  country,  he  harnessed  the  prisoners  to  the  plough.  Hence 
the  popular  saying,  "  Thou  art  terrible,  Roman  ;  the  Lithuan- 
ians are  thy  laboring  oxen."  Roman  of  Volhynia  is  a  worthy 
contemporarv  of  the  autocrat  of  the  north-west,  Andrew  of  Souz- 
dal. 

Roman  left  two  sons,  minors.  Daniel  the  elder  was  pro- 
claimed prince  of  Galitch  (1205-1264),  but  in  such  a  turbulent 
country,  rent  as  it  was  by  factions,  it  was  impossible  for  a  child 
to  reign  under  the  guardianship  of  his  mother.  Red  Russia  fell 
a  prey  to  a  series  of  civil  wars,  complicated  by  the  intervention 
of  Poles  and  Hungarians.  The  ferocitv  shown  bv  the  Gallicians 
in  their  intestine  struggles  has  gained  for  them  the  name  of 
atheist  in  the  Kievian  Chronicles.  The  jMinces  of  the  blood  of 
Saint  Vladimir  were  tortured  and  hung  by  the  boyards.  Daniel 
was  first  replaced  on  the  throne,  then  expelled,  then  again  re- 
called. His  infancy  was  the  toy  of  intriguing  factions.  Mstis- 
laf  the  Bold  also  came  hither  in  search  of  adventures.  He 
chased  the   Hungarians  from  Galitch,  took  the  title  of  Prince. 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSTA.  93 

and  married  his  daughter  to  Daniel.  Both  were  immediately 
obliged  to  turn  their  arms  against  the  Poles.  Daniel,  whose 
character  had  been  formed  in  such  a  rough  school,  displayed  re- 
markable energy  and  courage  in  these  campaigns.  The  aid  ot 
the  Polovtsi  had  to  be  sought  against  these  enemies  from  the 
west,  the  Hungarians  and  the  Poles — now  rivals,  now  allies. 
At  the  denlh  of  Mstislaf  the  Bold  (1228),  Daniel,  who  five  years 
previously  had  taken  part  in  the  battle  of  Kallia  against  the  Ta- 
tars, becauic  prince  of  Galitch.  Towards  the  boyards,  whose 
turbulence  /^ad  ruined  the  country,  he  acted  with  the  salutary 
policy  of  Roman,  though  without  employing  the  same  severity. 

The  gre;£t  Mongol  invasion  once  more  expelled  him  from 
Galitch,  which  it  covered  with  ruins.  Daniel,  who  had  fled  to 
Hungary,  did  his  best  to  help  his  unhappy  country.  To  fill  up 
the  void  matie  by  the  Mongols  in  the  population,  he  invited 
Germans,  Arm2nians,  and  Jews,  whom  he  loaded  wiih  privileges. 
The  economic  consequence  of  this  measure  was  a  rapid  develop- 
ment of  commeice  and  industry  ;  the  ethnographic  consequence 
was  the  introduction  into  Gallicia  of  a  Jewish  element,  very 
tenacious  and  very  persistent,  but  alien  to  the  dominant  nation- 
ality, and  forming  a.  separate  people  in  the  midst  of  the  Rus- 
sians. Daniel  was  one  of  the  last  princes  to  make  his  submis- 
sion to  the  horde.  "  You  have  done  well  to  come  at  last,"  said 
the  khan  of  the  Mongols.  Bati  treated  him  with  distinction,  al- 
lowed him  to  escape  the  ordinary  humiliations,  and,  seeing  that 
the  fermented  milk  of  the  Tatars  was  not  to  his  taste,  gave  him 
a  cup  of  wine.  Daniel,  however,  bore  with  impatience  the  yoke 
of  these  barbarians. 

Feeling  himself  insolated  in  the  general  abasement  of  the 
orthodox  world,  the  prince  of  Galitch  turned  towards  Rome, 
and  promised  to  do  his  best  for  the  union  of  the  two  Churches 
and  to  add  his  contingent  to  the  crusade  preached  in  Europe 
against  the  Mongols.  Innocent  IV,  called  him  his  dear  son,  ac- 
corded him  the  title  of  king,  and  sent  him  a  crown  and  sceptre. 
Daniel  was  solemnly  crowned  at  Droguitchine  by  the  abbot  of 
Messina,  Legate  of  the  Pope  (1254).  Both  the  crusade  against 
the  Asiatics  and  the  reconciliation  between  the  two  Churches 
came  to  nothing.  Daniel  braved  the  reproaches  and  threats  of 
Alexander  IV.,  but  kept  the  title  of  king.  He  took  part  in  the 
European  wars  with  great  success.  "  The  Hungarians,"  says 
a  chronicler,  "  admired  the  order  that  reigned  among  his  troops, 
their  Tatar  weapons,  the  magnificence  of  the  prince,  his  Greek 
habit  embroidered  with  gold,  his  sabre  and  his  arrows,  his  sad- 
dles enriched  witli  jewels  and  precious  metals  richly  chased." 
Encouraged  by  the  Hungarians  and  the  Poles,  he  tried  to  shake 


94 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


off  the  yoke  of  the  Mongols,  and  expelled  them  from  a  few 
places  ;  but  he  was  soon  obliged  to  bow  to  superior  force,  and 
dismantle  his  fortresses.  No  prince  better  deserved  to  free 
Southern  Russia,  but  his  activity  and  talents  struggled  in  vain 
against  the  fate  of  his  country.  He  terminated  in  1264  one  of 
the  most  memorable  and  most  checkered  careers  in  the  history 
of  Russia.  The  civil  wars  of  his  youth,  the  Tatar  invasion  in 
his  ripe  age,  the  negotiations  and  wars  with  Western  Europe, 
left  him  no  repose.  After  him,  Russian  Galitch  passed  to  dif- 
ferent princes  of  his  family.  In  the  14th  century,  she  was 
absorbed  into  the  kingdom  of  Poland.     She  was  lost  to  Russia. 


mSTORY  OF  RUSSIA.  9»J 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

rHE  RUSSIAN    REPUBLICS  :    NOVGOROD,  PSKOF,  AND    VIATKA,  UP  TO 

1224. 

Novgorod  the  Great— Her  struggles  with  the  princes — Novgorodian  institu* 
tions — Commerce — National  Church — Literature — Pskof  and  Vitaka. 


NOVGOROD  THE  GREAT STRUGGLES    WITH  THE  PRINCES. 

Novgorod  has  been,  from  the  most  remote  antiquity,  the 
political  centre  of  tlie  Russia  of  the  North-west.  The  origin  of  the 
Slavs  of  the  Ilmen,  who  laid  her  foundations,  is  still  uncertain. 
Some  learned  Russians,  such  as  M.  Kostomarof,  suppose  them 
to  belong  to  the  Slavs  of  the  South,  others  to  the  Slavs  of  the 
Baltic  ;  others,  again,  like  M.  Bielaef  and  M.  Ilovaiski,  make 
them  a  branch  of  the  Krivitch  or  Smolensk  Slavs.  We  find  the 
Novgorodians,  at  the  opening  of  Russian  history,  at  the  head  of 
the  confederation  of  tribes  which  first  expelled  and  then  recalled 
the  Varangians  to  reign  over  Russia. 

Novgorod,  from  very  ancient  times,  was  divided  into  two 
parts,  separated  by  the  course  of  the  Volkhof,  which  rises  in  lake 
Ilmen  and  falls  into  the  Ladoga.  On  the  right  bank  was  the 
side  of  Saint  Sophia,  where  laroslaf  the  Great  built  his  celebrated 
cathedral ;  where  the  Novgorod  kremlin  was  situated,  enclosing 
both  the  palaces  of  the  Archbishop  and  the  prince  ;  and  where 
the  famous  Russian  monument  was  consecrated  in  1862.  On 
the  left  bank,  the  i-/'/^  of  commerce,  \\'\\\\\\.s  Court  of  laroslaf ; 
the  bridge  which  joins  the  two  halves  of  the  city  is  celebrated  in 
the  ann.^ls  of  Novgorod.  The  side  of  Saint  Sophia  includes  the 
Nerevian  quarter  as  well  as  those  of  "  beyond  the  city,"  and  of 
the  potters  {Ncrevski,  Zagorod/ii,  Gontc/iarni).  The  side  of  com- 
merce comprised  the  quarters  of  the  carpenters  and  S/a7'S.  An- 
cient documents  also  speak  of  a  Prussian  (Lithuanian)  quarter. 
Some  of  these  names  seem  to  indicate  that  many  races  have 
concurred,  as  in  ancient  Rome,  to  form  the  city  of  Novgorod. 
Gilbert  of  Lannoy,  who  visited  the  republic  about  1413,  has  left 


<)6  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

us  this  description  of  it :  "  Novgorod  is  a  prodigiously  large  towft 
situated  in  a  beautiful  plain,  in  the  midst  of  vast  forests.  The 
soil  is  low,  subject  to  inundations,  marshy  in  places.  The  town 
is  surrounded  by  imperfect  ramparts,  formed  of  gabions  ;  the 
towers  are  of  stone."  Portions  of  these  ramparts  still  exist,  and 
allow  us  to  form  an  idea  of  the  immense  extent  of  the  ancient 
city.  The  kremlin  forms  its  acropolis.  The  cathedral  has  pre 
served  its  frescoes  of  the  12th  century,  the  pillars  painted  with 
images  of  saints  on  a  golden  ground,  the  imposing  figure  of 
Christ  on  the  cupola,  the  banner  of  the  Virgin,  which  was  to  re- 
vive the  courage  of  the  besieged  on  the  ramparts  :  the  tombs  of 
Saint  A^adimir  laroslavitch,  of  the  Archbishop  Nikita,  by  whose 
prayers  a  fire  was  extinguished,  of  Mstislaf  the  Brave,  the  de- 
voted defender  of  Novgorod,  and  of  many  other  saints  and  illus- 
trious people.  Without  counting  the  tributary  cities  of  Novgorod, 
such  as  Pskof,  Ladoga,  Izborsk,  Veliki  Louki,  Staraia  Roussa 
(Old  Russia),  Torjok,  Biejitchi,  her  primitive  territory  (the 
"  ager  Romanus  "  of  the  republic)  was  divided  into  ^\%fftJis 
[piatines),  the  Vudskdia,  the  Chelonskdia,  the  Obonejs  kaia  the 
Biejetskdia,  and  the  Dcreveksdia,  which  included  the  land  to  the 
south  of  the  lakes  Ladoga  and  Onega.  Her  conquests  formed 
five  bailiwicks  or  volosts  occupying  the  whole  of  Northern  Russia, 
and  extending  as  far  as  Siberia.  These  bailiwicks  were  the  Zaiv- 
fo/^//// between  the  Onega  and  the  Mezen  ;  liie  7)r,  or  Russian 
Laj^land  ;  Pennia,  on  the  Upper  Kama  ;  PctcJiora,  on  the  river  of 
the  same  name  ;  and  lougria,  on  the  other  side  of  the  Oural 
mountains.  To  these  we  must  add  Ingria,  Carelia,  and  part  of 
Livonia  and  Esthonia. 

Novgorod,  which  had  summoned  the  Varangian  ]M-inces,  was 
too  powerful,  with  her  100,000  inhabitants  and  300,000  subjects, 
to  allow  herself  to  be  tyrannized  over.  An  ancient  tradition 
speaks  vaguely  of  a  revolt  against  Rurik  the  Old  under  the  hero 
Vadini.  Sviatoslaf,  the  conqueror  of  the  Bulgaria  of  the  Dan- 
ube, undertook  to  govern  her  by  mere  agents,  but  Novgorod  in- 
sistiid  on  having  one  of  his  sons  for  her  prince.  "  If  you  do  not 
come  to  reign  over  us,"  said  the  citizens,  "  we  shall  know  how 
to  find  ourselves  other  princes."  laroslaf  the  Great,  as  a  re- 
ward for  their  devotion,  accorded  them  immense  privileges,  of 
which  no  record  can  be  found,  but  which  are  constantly  in- 
voked by  the  Novgorodians,  as  were  the  true  or  false  charters 
of  Charles  the  Great  by  the  German  cities.  These  republicans 
could  not  exist  without  a  prince,  but  they  rarely  kept  one  long. 
The  assembly  of  the  citizens,  the  vetche\,  convoked  by  the  bell 
in  the  Court  of  laroslaf,  was  the  real  sovereign.  The  republic 
called  herself  "  My  Lord  Novgorod  //^  Great "  (Gospodine  Vel' 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


97 


Ikii  Novgorod).  "Who  can  equal  God  and  the  great  Novgo- 
rod ? "  was  a  popular  saying.  From  the  distance  of  the  city 
from  the  Russia  of  the  Dnieper,  and  her  position  towards  the 
Gallic  and  Western  Europe,  she  took  little  part  in  the  civil  wars 
of  which  Kief  was  the  object  and  the  centre.  She  profited  by 
I  his  in  a  certain  sense  ;  for  in  the  midst  of  the  strifes  of  princes 
and  of  frequent  changes  in  the  grand  principality,  no  sovereign 
was  stronir  enouiih  to  irive  her  a  master.     She  could  choose  be- 

o  o  o 

I  ween  princes  of  the  rival  families.  She  could  impose  condi- 
tions on  him  whom  she  chose  to  reign  over  her.  If  discontented 
with  his  management,  she  expelled  the  prince  and  his  band  of 
aiitrustions.  According  to  the  accustomed  formula,  "she  made 
a  reverence,  and  showed  him  the  way"  to  leave  Novgorod. 
Sometimes,  to  hinder  his  evil  designs,  she  kept  him  prisoner  in 
the  archbishop's  palace,  and  it  was  left  to  his  successor  to  set 
him  at  liberty.  Often  a  revolution  was  accompanied  by  a  gen- 
eral pillage  of  the  partisans  of  the  fallen  prince,  even  by  7ioyades 
in  the  Volkhof.  A  grand  Prince  of  Kief,  Sviatopolk,  wished  to 
force  his  son  on  them.  "  Send  him  here,"  said  the  Novgoro- 
dians,  "  if  he  has  a  spare  head."  The  princes  themselves  con- 
tributed to  the  frequent  changes  of  reign.  They  only  felt  them- 
selves half-rulers  in  Novgorod,  so  they  accepted  any  other  ap- 
]:)anage  with  joy.  Thus,  in  ii32,Vsevolod  Gabriel  abandoned 
Novgorod  to  reign  at  Pereiaslavl.  When  his  hopes  of  Kief  were 
crushed,  and  he  wished  to  return  to  Novgorod,  the  citizens  re- 
jected him.  "  You  have  forgotten  your  oath  to  die  with  us,  you 
have  sought  another  principality  ;  go  where  you  will."  Pres- 
ently they  thought  better  of  it,  and  took  him  back.  Four  years 
afterwards  he  was  ao-ain  obli2:ed  to  flv.  In  a  great  vetche,  to 
which  the  citizens  of  Pskof  and  Ladoga  were  summoned,  they 
solemnly  condemned  the  exile,  after  reading  the  heads  of  very 
characteristic  accusations  :  "  He  took  no  care  of  the  poorer 
people  ;  he  desired  to  establish  himself  at  Pereiaslavl :  at  the 
battle  of  Mount  Idanof,  against  the  men  of  Souzdal,  he  and  his 
dnnijina  were  the  first  to  leave  the  battle-field;  he  was  fickle  in 
the  quarrels  of  the  princes,  sometimes  uniting  with  the  Prince  of 
Tchernigof,  sometimes  with  the  opposite  party." 

The  power  of  a  prince  of  Novgorod  rested  not  only  on  his 
dro/ijina,  which  always  followed  his  fortunes,  and  on  his  family 
relations  with  this  or  that  powerful  principality,  but  also  on  a 
party  formed  for  him  in  the  heart  of  the  republic.  It  was  when 
the  opposing  party  grew  too  strong  that  he  was  dethroned,  and 
popular  vengeance  exercised  on  his  adlierents.  Novgorod  being 
above  all  a  great  commercial  city,  her  divisions  were  frequently 
caused  by  diverging  economic  interests.     Among  the  citizens, 


98  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

some  were  occupied  in  trade  with  tlie  Volga  and  the  East,  others 
with  the  Dnieper  and  Greece.  The  former  naturally  sought  the 
alliance  of  the  princes  of  Souzdal,  masters  of  the  great  Oriental 
artery  ;  the  latter  that  of  the  princes  of  Kief  or  Tchernigof, 
masters  of  the  road  to  the  south.  Each  of  the  two  parties  tried 
to  establish  a  prince  of  the  family  whose  protection  they  sought. 
If  he  fell,  yet  succeeded  in  escaping  from  the  town,  he  tried  to 
regain  his  throne  by  the  arms  of  his  famil\',  or  to  instal  himself 
and  his  droiijina  either  at  Pskof,  like  Vsevolod-Gabriel,  who  be- 
came prince  of  that  town,  or  at  Torjok,  like  laroslaf  of  Souzdal, 
and  thence  blockaded  and  starved  the  great  city.  The  prince 
of  Souzdal  was  soon  the  most  formidable  neighbor  of  Novgorod. 
We  have  seen  that  Andrew  Bogolioubski  sent  an  army  against 
it,  then  that  his  nephew  laroslaf  besieged  his  ancient  subjects 
till  Mstislaf  the  Bold  freed  them  by  the  battle  of  Lipetsk  (12 16). 
He  was  the  son  of  Mstislaf  the  Brave,  who  had  defended  them 
against  Vsevolod  Big-Nest,  and  against  Souzdal  and  the 
Tchouds.  The  remains  of  "  the  Brave  "  rest  at  Saint  Sophia,  in 
a  bronze  sarcophagus.  His  son,  "the  Bold,"  was  of  far  too 
restless  a  nature  to  leave  his  bones  also  at  Novgorod.  He  re- 
duced the  principality  to  order,  and  then  assembled  the  citizens 
in  the  Court  of  laroslaf,  and  said  to  them,  "  I  salute  Saint  So- 
phia, the  tomb  of  my  father,  and  you.  Novgorodians,  I  am 
going  to  reconquer  Galitch  from  the  strangers,  but  I  shall  never 
forget  you.  1  hope  I  may  lie  by  the  tomb  of  my  father,  in  Saint 
Sophia."  The  Novgorodians  in  vain  entreated  him  to  stay 
(1218).  We  have  seen  him  use  his  last  armies  in  the  troubles 
of  the  South-east,  and  die  Prince  of  Galitch. 

After  his  departure,  the  republic  summoned  his  nephew, 
Sviatoslaf,  to  the  throne  ;  but  he  could  not  come  to  terms  with 
magistrates  and  a  populace  equally  turbulent.  The  possadnik, 
Tverdislaf,  caused  one  of  the  boyards  of  Novgorod  to  be  arrested. 
This  was  the  signal  for  a  general  rising;  some  took  the  part  of 
the  boyard,  others  that  of  the  possadnik.  During  eight  days  the 
bell  of  the  kremlin  sounded.  Finally  both  factions  buckled  on 
their  cuirasses  and  drew  their  swords.  Tverdislaf  raised  his 
eyes  to  Saint  Sophia,  and  cried,  "  I  shall  fall  first  in  the  battle, 
or  God  will  justify  me  by  giving  the  victory  to  my  brothers." 
Ten  men  only  perished  in  this  skirmish,  and  then  peace  was  re 
established.  The  prince,  who  accused  Tverdislaf  of  being  the 
cause  of  the  trouble,  demanded  that  he  shoidd  be  deposed. 
The  vetchd  inquired  what  crime  he  had  committed.  "  None," 
replied  the  prince,  "  but  it  is  my  will."  "  I  am  satisfied,"  ex- 
claimed the  possadnik,  "as  they  do  not  accuse  me  of  any  fault  ; 
as  to  you,  my  brothers,  you  can  dispose  alike  of  possadniks  and 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


99 


princes."  Theassembly  then  gave  their  decision.  "  Prince,  as 
you  do  not  accuse  the  possadnik  of  any  fault,  remember  that  you 
have  sworn  to  depose  no  magistrate  without  trial.  He  will  re- 
main our  possadnik — we  will  not  deliver  him  to  you."  On  this 
Sviatoslaf  quilted  Novgorod  (12 19).  He  was  replaced  by  Vse- 
volod,  one  of  his  brothers,  who  was  expelled  two  years  later 
(1221). 

The  Souzdalian  party  having  made  some  progress,  they  re- 
called the  same  laroslaf  who  was  beaten  at  Lipetsk,  but  the 
princes  of  Souzdal  were  too  absolute  in  their  ideas  to  be  able  to 
agree  with  the  Novgorodians.  laroslaf  was  again  put  to  flight, 
and  replaced  by  Vsevolod  of  Smolensk,  who  was  expelled  in  his 
turn.  The  Grand  Prince  of  Souzdal  now  interposed,  levied  a 
contribution  on  Novgorod,  and  a  prince  of  Tcheniigof  was  im- 
posed on  them,  who  hastened  in  1225  to  return  to  the  south  of 
Russia.  In  seven  years  the  Novgorodians  had  five  times  changed 
their  rulers.  laroslaf  himself  came  back  for  a  third  and  even  a 
fourth  time.  A  famine  so  much  reduced  the  Novgorodians  that 
42,000  corpses  were  buried  in  two  cemeteries  alone.  These 
proud  citizens  implored  strangers  to  take  them  as  slaves  for  the 
price  of  a  morsel  of  bread.  The  same  year  a  fire  destroyed  the 
whole  of  one  quarter  of  Novgorod.  These  calamities  subdued 
their  turbulence.  laroslaf  succeeded  in  governing  them  des' 
potically  tiil  he  was  called  to  fill  the  throne  of  the  Grand  Prinoe 
(1236).'  He  left  them,  as  their  prince,  his  son  Alexander 
Nevski. 


NOVGORODIAN    INSTITUTIONS — COMMERCE — THE   NATIONAL 
CHURCH — LITERATURE. 

From  the  fact  that  no  dynasty  of  princes  could  establish  it- 
self at  Novgorod,  that  no  princely  band  could  take  a  place 
among  the  native  aristocracy,  it  follows  that  the  republic  kept 
her  ancient  liberties  and  customs  intact  under  the  short  reigns 
of  her  rulers.  In  all  Russian  cities,  it  is  true,  the  country  ex- 
isted side  bv  side  with  the  prince  and  bayards,  the  assembly  of 
citizens  side'  by  side  with  the  prince's  men,  and  the  native  fnilitia 
side  by  side  with  the  foreign  droujina  ;  but  at  Novgorod,  the 
country,  the  vetchc,  and  tiie  municipal  7nilitia  had  retained  more 
vigor  than  elsewhere.  The  town  was  more  powerful  than  the 
prince,  who  reigned  by  virtue  of  a  constitution,  traces  of  which 
mav  be  observed,  no'  doubt,  in  other  regions  of  Russia,  but 
whi'ch  is  found  in  its  original  form  at  Novgorod  alone.  Each 
new  monarch  was  compelled  to  take  an  oath,  by  which  he  bound 


I  oo  HISTOR  V  OF  RUSSIA. 

himself  to  observe  the  laws  and  privileges  of  laroslaf  the  Great. 
This    constitution,  like  the  pacta  conventa  of  Poland,  signified 
distrust,  and  was  intended  to  limit  the  power  of  the  prince  and 
his  men.     The  revenues  to  which  he    had  a  right,  and  which 
formed  his  civil  list,  were  carefully  limited,  as  also  were  his  judi- 
cial and  political  functions.     He  levied  tribute  on  certain  volosts, 
and  was  entitled  to  the  vira  (German    Wergeld)  as  well  as  to 
certain  fines.     In  some   bailiwicks  he  had  his  own  lieutenant, 
and  Novgorod  had  hers.     He  could  not  execute  justice  without 
help  of  the   possadnik,  nor  upset  any  judgment  ;  nor,  above  all, 
take  the  suit  beyond  Novgorod.     This  was  what  the  Novgoro- 
dians  feared  most,  and  with  reason.     The  day  when  the  people 
of  Novgorod  bethought  themselves  of  appealing  to  the  tribunal 
of  the  Grand  Prince  of  Moscow,  was  fatal  to  the  independence 
of  the  republic.     In  the  conflicts  between  the  men  of  the  prince 
and  those  of  the  city,  a  mixed  court  delivered  judgment.     The 
prince,  no  more  thaii  his  men,  could  acquire  villages  in  the  ter- 
ritory of  Novgorod,  nor  create  colonies.     He  was  forbidden  to 
hunt  in  the  woods  of  Staraia   Roussa  except  in  the  autumn,  and 
had  to  reap  his  harvests  at  a  specified  season.     Though  they 
thus  mistrusted  their  prince,  the  Novgorodians  had  need  of  him 
to  moderate  the  ancient  Slav  anarchy.     As  in  the  days  of  Rurik, 
"  family  armed  itself  against  family,  and  there  was  no  justice." 
In  Novgorod  the  T't'/r/z/had  more  extensive  pjowers,  and  acted 
more  regularly  than  in    the    other  Russian  cities.     It  was  the 
vetche  which  nominated  and  expelled  princes,  imprisoned  them 
in  the  archiepiscopal  palace,  and  formally  accused  them  ;  elected 
and  deposed  the  archbishops,  decided  peace  and  war,  judged 
the  State  crmiinals.     According   to  the  old  Slav  custom  (pre- 
served in  Poland  till  the  fall  of  the  republic),  the  decisions  were 
always  made,  not  by  a  majority,  but  by  unanimity  of  voices.     It 
was  a  kind  of  libcnun  veto.     The   majority  had  the  resource  of 
drowning  the  minority  in  the  Volkhof.     The  prince  as  well  as 
the  possadnik,  the  boyards  as  well  as  the  people,  had  the  right 
of  convoking  the    vetche.     It   met  sometimes    in    the    Court  of 
laroslaf,  sometimes  in  Saint  Sophia's.     As  Poland  had  her  con- 
federations, her -'diets  under  the  shield,"   Novgorod  occasion- 
ally saw  on  the  banks  of  tke  Volkhof  two  rival  and  hostile  vetches, 
which  often  came  to  blows  on  the  bridge.     Before  being  sub- 
mitted  to  the  general  assembly,  the  questions  were  sometimes 
deliberated  in  a  smaller  council,  composed  of  notable  citizens, 
of  acting  or  past  magistrates. 

The  chief  Novgorodian  magistrates  were  :  i.  '\:\\^ possad7iik 
called  bv  contemporary  German  writers  the  burgomaster,  who 
was  changed  nearly  as  often  as  the  prince.  The  possadnik  was 
chosen  from  some  of  the  influential  families,  one  of  which  aloiie 


HISTOR  V  OF  A'  [/SS/A.  i  o  i 

gave  a  dozen  possadniks  to  Novgorod.  The  first  magistrate 
was  charged  to  defend  civic  privileges,  and  shared  with  the 
prince  the  judicial  power  and  the  right  of  distributing  the 
taxes.  He  governed  the  city,  commanded  her  army,  directed 
her  diplomacy,  sealed  the  acts  with  her  seal.  2.  The  tysatski 
(from  tysatch,  thousand)  bears  in  German  documents  the  title  of 
■  iux  or  lierzog ;  he  was  therefore  a  military  chief,  a  chiliarch  who 
ivad  the  centurions  of  the  town  militia  under  his  orders.  He  had 
a  special  tribunal,  and  seems  to  have  been  specially  entrusted 
with  the  defence  of  the  rights  of  the  people,  thus  recalling  the 
Roman  tribunes.  3.  Besides  the  centurions  there  \vz.s  a.starost, 
a  sort  of  district  mayor,  for  each  quarter  of  the  town. 

The  chief  document  of  the  Novgorodian  law  is  the  Letter  of 
Justice  {Soiidndia  Gramota),  of  which  the  definite  publication 
may  be  placed  at  147 1.  It  contains  the  same  principles  as  the 
Rousskaia  Fravda  of  laroslaf  the  Great.  As  in  all  the  early 
Germanic  and  Scandinavian  laws,  we  find  the  right  of  private 
revenge,  the  fixed  price  of  blood,  the  "  boot  "  or  fine  for  injury 
inflicted,  the  oath  admitted  as  evidence,  the  judgment  of  God, 
the  judicial  duel,  which  was  still  resorted  to  by  Novgorod  even 
after  her  decadence,  in  the  i6th  century.  We  also  find  records 
of  corporal  punishments.  The  thief  was  to  be  branded  ;  on  the 
second  relapse  into  crime,  he  was  to  be  hung.  Territorial  prop- 
erty acquires  a  greater  importance,  and,  a  sure  evidence  of 
Muscovite  influence,  a  second  court  of  appeal  is  admitted — the 
appeal  to  the  tribunal  of  the  Grand  Prince. 

From  a  social  point  of  view,  the  constitution  of  Novgorod 
presents  other  analogies  with  the  constitution  of  Poland. 
Great  inequality  then  existed  between  the  difTerent  classes  of 
society.  An  aristocracy  of  boyards  had  ullimately  formed  itself, 
whose  intestine  quarrels  agitated  the  town.  Below  the  boyards 
came  the  dieti  boyarskie',  a  kind  of  inferior  nobility  ;  then  the 
different  classes  of  citizens,  the  merchantmen,  the  Idack  people, 
and  the  smerdes  or  peasants.  The  merchants  formed  an  asso- 
ciation of  their  own,  a  sort  oi  guild,  round  the  Church  of  Saint 
John.  Military  societies  also  existed,  bands  of  independent  ad- 
venturers or  droujiuas  of  some  boyard  who,  impelled  by  hungei 
or  a  restless  spirit,  sought  adventures  afar  on  the  great  rivers 
of  Northern  Russia,  pillaging  alike  friends  and  enemies,  or  es 
tablishing  military  colonies  in  the  midst  of  Tchoud  or  Finnish 
tribes. 

The  soil  of  Novgorod  was  sandy,  marshy,  and  unproductive  : 
hence  the  famines  and  pestilences  that  so  often  depopulated  the 
country.  Novgorod  was  forced  to  extend  itself  in  order  to  live; 
she  became  therefore  a  commercial  and  colonizing  city.     In  the 


102  ^^^  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA. 

loth  century,  Constantine  relates  how  the  Slavs  left  Nemogarh 
(Novgorod),  descended  the  Dnieper  by  Milinisca  (Smolensk), 
Telioutza  (Loubetch),  Tchernigof,  Vychegord,  Kief  and  Viti- 
tchevo  ;  crossed  the  cataracts  of  the  Dnieper,  passed  the  naval 
stations  of  Saint  Gregory  and  Saint  Etherius,  at  the  mouth  of 
the  river,  and  spread  themselves  over  all  the  shores  of  the 
Greek  empire.  The  Oriental  coins  and  jewels  found  in  the 
kourgans  of  the  Ilmen  show  that  the  Novgorodians  had  an  early 
and  extensive  commerce  with  the  East.  We  see  them  exchange 
iron  and  weapons  for  the  precious  metals  found  by  the  lougrians 
in  the  mines  of  the  Ourals.  They  traded  with  the  Baltic  Slavs ; 
and  when  the  latter  lost  their  independence,  and  a  flourishing 
centre,  Wisby,  was  formed  in  the  Isle  of  Gothland,  Novgorod 
turned  to  this  side  also.  In  the  i2lh  century  there  was  a 
Gothic  trading  depot  and  a  Varangian  Cliurch  at  Novgorod,  and 
a  Novgorodian  Church  in  Gothland.  When  the  Germans  began 
to  dispute  the  commerce  of  the  Baltic  with  the  Scandinavians, 
Novgorod  became  the  seat  of  a  German  depot,  which  ended  by 
absorbing  the  Gothic  one.  When  the  Hanseatic  League  be- 
came the  mistress  of  the  North,  we  find  the  Germans  established 
not  only  at  Novgorod,  but  at  Pskof  and  Ladoga,  at  all  the 
mouths  of  the  network  of  Novgorodian  lakes.  There  they  ob- 
tained considerable  privileges,  even  the  right  to  acquire  jDasture- 
land.  They  were  masters,  and  at  home  in  their  fortified  dc'pbts, 
in  their  stockade  of  thick  planks,  where  no  Russian  had  the 
right  to  penetrate  without  their  leave.  This  German  trading 
company  was  governed  by  the  most  narrow  and  exclusive  ideas. 
No  Russian  was  allowed  to  belong  to  the  company,  nor  to  carry 
the  wares  of  a  German,  an  Englishman,  a  Walloon  or  a  Fleming. 
The  company  only  authorized  a  wholesale  commerce,  and,  to 
maintain  her  goods  at  a  high  price,  she  forbade  imports  beyond 
a  certain  amount.  "  In  a  word,"  says  a  German  writer,  "  dur- 
ing three  centuries  the  Hanseatic  League  concentrated  in  her 
own  hands  all  the  external  commerce  of  Northern  Russia.  If 
we  inquire  what  profit  or  loss  she  has  brought  this  country,  we 
must  recognize  that,  thanks  to  her,  Novgorod  and  Pskof  were 
deprived  of  a  free  commerce  with  tlie  West.  Russia,  iu  order 
to  satisfy  the  first  wants  of  civilization,  fell  into  a  complete  inde- 
pendence. She  was  abandoned  to  the  good  pleasure  and  piti- 
less egotism  of  the  German  merchants."  (Riesenkampf,  '  Der- 
deutsche  Hof.') 

The  ecclesiastical  constitution  of  Russia  presents  a  special 
character.  In  tlie  rest  of  Russia  the  clergy  was  Russian-ortho- 
dox. At  Novgorod  it  was  Novgorodian  before  everything.  It 
was  only  in  the  12th  century  that  the  Slavs  of  Ilmen,  who  had 


HIS  TOR  Y  OF  RUSSIA.  1 03 

been  the  last  to  be  converted,  could  have  an  archbishop  that 
was  neither  Greek  nor  Kievian,  but  of  their  own  race.  From 
that  time  the  archbishop  was  elected  by  the  citizens,  by  the 
vek/ic^.  Without  waiting  for  the  metropolitan  to  be  invested 
at  Kief,  he  was  at  once  installed  in  his  episcopal  palace. 
He  was  one  of  the  great  personages,  the  first  dignitary  of  the 
republic.  In  public  acts  his  name  was  placed  before  the 
others.  "  With  the  blessing  of  Archbishop  Moses,"  says  one 
letter-patent ;  "  possadnik  Daniel  and  tysatski  Abraham  salute 
you."  He  had  a  superiority  over  the  prince  on  the  ground  of 
being  a  native  of  the  country,  whilst  the  descendant  of  Rurik 
was  a  foreigner.  In  return,  the  revenues  of  the  archbishop,  the 
treasures  of  Saint  Sophia,  were  at  the  service  of  the  republic. 
In  the  14th  century  we  find  an  archbishop  building  at  his  own  ex- 
pense a  kremlin  of  stone.  In  the  15th  century,  the  riches  of 
the  cathedral  were  employed  to  ransom  the  Russian  prisoners 
captured  by  the  Lithuanians.  The  Church  of  Novgorod  was 
essentially  a  national  Church  ;  the  ecclesiastics  took  part  in  the 
temporal  affairs,  the  laics  in  the  spiritual.  In  the  14th  century 
the  7<etc/ie  i^uX.  to  death  the  heretical  strigohiiks,  proscribed  an- 
cient superstitions,  and  burnt  the  sorcerers.  As  Novgorod 
nominated  her  archbishop,  she  could  also  depose  him.  The 
orthodox  religion  extended  with  the  Novgorod  colonization 
among  the  Finnish  tribes.  In  face  of  the  Finns,  the  interests 
of  the  Church  and  the  Republic  were  identical.  It  was  religion 
that  contributed  to  the  splendor  of  the  city,  and  that  specially 
profited  by  her  wealth.  Novgorod  was  full  of  churches  and 
monasteries,  founded  by  the  piety  of  private  individuals.  Nov- 
gorod, which  had  shaken  off  the  political  supremacy  of  Kief, 
wished  also  to  free  herself  from  its  religious  domination,  and  no 
longer  to  be  obliged  to  seek  on  the  Dnieper  the  investiture  of 
her  archbishop,  but  to  make  him  an  independent  metropolitan. 
She  failed.  When  Moscow  became  of  importance,  she  threatened 
not  only  the  political,  but  the  religious  supremacy  of  Novgorod. 
Religion  was,  in  the  hands  of  the  Muscovite  princes,  an  instru- 
ment of  government.  The  Novgorodian  prelate  always  made 
common  cause  with  his  fellow-citizens,  and  endured  with  them 
their  master's  bursts  of  anger. 

The  literature  of  Novgorod  was  as  national  as  the  Church  her- 
self. The  pious  chronicles  of  the  Novgorodian  convents  shared 
all  the  quarrels  and  all  the  passions  of  their  fellow-citizens. 
"Even  their  style,"  said  M.  Bestoujef,  "reflects  vividly  the  ac- 
tive, business-like  character  of  the  Novgorodians.  It  is  short, 
and  sparing  of  words  ;  but  their  narratives  embrace  more  com- 
pletely than  those  of  other  Russian  countries  all  the  phases  of 


1 04  HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA. 

actual  life.  They  are  the  historians  not  merely  of  the  princes 
and  boyarcls,  but  of  tlie  whole  city.  The  lives  of  the  saints  are 
the  lives  of  Novgorodian  saints  ;  the  niir;tcles  they  relate  are  to 
the  glory  of  the  city.  They  tell  you,  foi  example,  that  Christ 
appeared  to  the  artist  charged  with  the  paintings  under  the  dome 
of  Saint  Sophia,  and  said  to  him  :  '  Do  not  represent  me  with 
my  hand  extended  for  blessing,  but  with  my  hand  closed  be- 
cause in  it  I  hold  Novgorod;  and  when  it  is  opened  it  will  be 
the  end  of  the  city.'  "  The  tale  of  the  panic  excited  among  the 
soldiers  of  Andrew  Bogolioubski  by  the  image  of  the  Virgin 
wounded  by  a  Souzdalian  arrow,  was  spread  abroad.  Novgorod 
has  her  own  cycle  of  epic  songs,  oiby/iiias.  Her  heroes  are  not 
those  of  the  Kievian  epopee.  There  is  Vassili  Bouslaevitch, 
the  bold  boyard,  who  with  his  faithful  droujina  stood  up  to  his 
knees  in  blood  on  the  bridge  of  the  Volkhof,  holding  in  check 
all  the  mougiks  of  Novgorod,  whom  he  had  defied  to  combat. 
Vassili  Bouslaevitch  is  the  true  type  of  these  proud  adven- 
turers, who  knew  neither  friend  nor  enemy — a  true  Novgorodian 
oligarch,  a  hero  of  civil  war.  Still  more  popular  was  Sadko, 
the  rich  merchant,  a  kind  of  Novgorodian  Sindbad  or  Ulysses, 
a  worthy  representative  of  a  people  of  merchants  and  adven- 
turers, who  sought  his  fortunes  on  the  waves.  A  tempest  rose, 
and  men  drew  lots  to  decide  who  should  be  sacrificed  to  the 
wrath  of  the  gods.  Sadko  threw  a  little  wooden  ring  into  the 
wvater,  the  others  flung  in  iron  rings  :  O  prodigy  !  the  others 
swam,  his  sank.  He  obeyed  his  destiny,  and  threw  himself  into 
the  waves,  but  he  was  received  in  the  palace  of  the  king  of  the 
sea,  who  tested  him  in  various  wavs,  and  wished  him  to  marrv 
his  daughter.  Then  suddenly  Sadko  found  himself  on  the  shore 
with  great  treasures,  but  what  were  these  compared  to  the  treas- 
ures of  the  city  ?  "  They  see  that  I  am  a  rich  merchant  of 
Novgorod,  but  Novgorod  is  still  more  rich  than  I."* 


PSKOF   AND   VIATKA. 

Of  all  the  towns  subject  to  Novgorod,  Pskof  was  the  most  im- 
portant. On  the  point  formed  by  the  junction  of  the  Pskova 
and  the  Velikaia  rises  her  kremlin,  with  its  crumbling  ramparts, 
its  ruined  gates  and  towers.  These  once  famous  walls  are  to- 
day a  mass  of  ruins,  and  the  street-boys  amuse  themselves  by 
throwing  stones  in  the  Pskova  to  frighten  the  laundresses. 
Pskof  is  only  a  poor  little  place  with  10,000  souls.     There   only 

^,  *  A,  Rambaud,  '  La  Kussic  epique,'  p.  130. 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


105 


remains  of  her  past  splendor  the  cathedral  of  the  Trinity  at  one 
end  of  ihe  krcnilin.  There  rest  in  metal  cofiins  the  bones  of  the 
best-loved  princes,  Vsevolod-Gabriel  and  Dovmont,  a  convened 
Lithuanian  who  came  in  the  13th  century  to  defend  the  republic 
a^^ainst  his  own  compatriots.  This  old  town  has  preserved 
many  churches  and  monasteries.  The  distant  view  of  Pskof  is 
beautiful,  and  on  fete-days  the  dead  city  seems  to  awake  at  the 
chimes  of  her  innumerable  bells,  which  sound  as  loudly  as  in 
the  days  of  her  glorious  past. 

Nestor  makes  Pskof  the  native  land  of  Saint  Olga.  The 
sum  of  his  history  is  nothing  more  than  these  two  facts  :  first, 
the  struggle  against  the  Tchouds,  and.  later,  against  the  Ger- 
mans of  Livonia  ;  second,  the  efforts  of  Novgorod  to  secure  her 
freedom.  The  independence  of  the  city  was  ultimately  secured 
by  her  wealtii  and  her  commerce.  The  first  prince  who  ruled 
her  as  a  separate  state,  Vsevolod-Gabriel,  was  expelled  by  his 
subjects,  and  therefore  was  welcomed  with  the  greater  eager- 
ness by  the  Pskovians.  When  the  Souzdalian  party  ruled  at 
Novgorod,  it  was  generally  the  contrary  party  that  triumphed  in 
Pskof.  About  12 14  the  little  republic  contracted  an  offensive 
and  defensive  alliance  with  the  Germans  ;  she  undertook  to 
help  them  against  the  I,ithuanians,  and  they  were  to  support 
her  against  Novgorod.  This  was  playing  rather  a  dangerous 
game.  In  1240,  one  Tverdillo  delivered  up  Pskof  to  the  Livo- 
nian  knights  ;  she  did  not  free  herself  till  1242.  From  this  mo- 
ment Pskof  ceased  to  mix  in  the  civil  wars  of  Novgorod.  She 
had  enough  to  do  with  her  own  affairs  and  her  struggle  against 
the  Germans,  Swedes,  and  Lithuanians.  She  also  called  her- 
self "  My  Lord  Pskof  the  Great ;  "  but  it  was  only  in  1348  that 
the  Novgorodians,  needing  her  help  against  Magnus,  king  of 
Sweden,  formally  recognized  her  independence,  by  the  treaty  of 
Bolstof,  and  concluded  with  her  a  bond  of  fraternal  friendship. 
Novgorod  became  the  elder  sister,  and  Pskof  the  younger.  The 
organization  of  Pskof  is  almost  that  of  her  ancient  metropolis. 
We  again  find  the  prince,  the  vetche\  the  division  into  quarters, 
up  to  the  number  of  six,  each  one  having  its  starost. 

In  the  1 2th  century  a  new  Novgorodian  colony  was  formed 
between  the  Kama  and  the  Viatka,  which  remained  a  repubHc 
till  the  end  of  the  15th  century.  "  This  distant  country,"  says  M. 
Bestoujef-Rioumine,  "  is  still  quite  Novgorodian.  When  the 
traveller  has  passed  the  Viatka,  he  meets  with  a  peculiar  mode 
of  constructing  the  huts.  There  are  no  longer  whole  lines  of 
isbas  joined  one  to  the  other,  as  on  this  side  of  the  river,  but 
there  is  a  high  house,  where  the  court,  rooms,  and  offices  are 
surrounded  by  a  rampart  of  pales,  and  united  under  the  same 


1 06  HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USS/A. 

roof;   in   a   word,    it   was    a  Novgorodian    house.     You    hear 

the  Novgorodian  patois,  you  see  the  Novgorodian  cap.  It  is 
the  Novgorod  colonization  still  living."  In  11 74  some 
adventurers  from  the  Great  Republic  came  from  the  Kama 
to  the  Viatka,  and  advanced  from  east  to  west,  and  founded 
a  colony  on  this  river,  which  is  to-day  the  village  of  Nikou- 
litsyne.  Another  band  defeated  the  Tcheremisses,  and  on 
their  territory  raised  Kochkarof,  at  present  called  Kotelnitch. 
Then  the  two  bands  reunited,  and  penetrated  into  the  Votiak 
country.  On  the  right  bank  of  the  Viatka,  on  the  summit  of  a 
high  mountain,  they  perceived  a  city  surrounded  by  a  rampart 
and  a  ditch,  which  contained  one  of  the  sanctuaries  of  the  peo- 
ple. As  pious  as  the  companions  of  Cortez  and  Pizarro,  the 
Russian  adventurers  prepared  themselves  for  the  assault  by  a 
fast  of  several  days,  then  invoked  Saints  Boris  and  Gleb,  and 
captured  the  town.  Next,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Khlynovitsa,  in 
the  Viatka,  not  very  far  off,  they  built  the  city  of  Khlynof, 
which  became,  under  the  name  of  Viatka,  the  capital  of  all  their 
colonies.  She  had  no  walls,  but  the  houses,  built  close  together, 
formed  an  unbroken  rampart  against  the  enemy,  a  wall  and  de- 
fence. At  the  news  of  this  success,  other  colonists  flocked  from 
Novgorod  and  the  forests  of  the  north,  and  founded  other  cen- 
tres of  population.  These  bold  pioneers  had  more  than  once 
to  re-unite,  sometimes  against  the  aboriginal  Finns  or  the  Tatar 
invaders,  sometimes  against  the  pretensions  of  Novgorod,  or 
the  Grand  Prince  of  Moscow.  We  find  among  them,  as  in  the 
metropolis,  boyards,  merchants,  and  citizens.  They  had  voie- 
vodes  or  atajuans  for  their  military  chiefs.  Their  spirit  of  re- 
ligious independence  equalled  their  political  independence. 
Jonas,  mettopolitan  of  Moscow,  writes  angrily  about  the  indo- 
cility  of  their  clergy,  and  avenges  himself  by  blaming  their 
morals.  "  Your  spiritual  sons,"  he  wrote  to  the  priests  of 
Viatka,  "  live  contrary  to  the  law.  They  have  five,  six,  or  even 
seven  wives.     And  you  dare  to  bless  these  marriages  !  " 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA, 


107 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE   LIVONIAN    KNIGHTS  :    CONQUEST   OF   THE   BALTIC   PROVINCES 

BY    THE   GERMANS. 


Conversion  of  Livonia — Rise  of  the  Livonian  knights:  union  with  the 

Teutonic  knights. 

Three  new  races  of  men,  three  invasions  (from  the  12th  to 
the  13th  century),  were  to  modify  the  historical  development 
of  the  different  parts  of  Slavonia  ;  the  Russia  of  the  north-west 
was  to  make  acquaintance  with  the  Germans,  Russia  of  the  east 
and  south  with  the  Tatar-Mongols,  Russia  of  the  west  with  the 
Lithuanians. 

Part  of  the  Tchoud  or  Lett  tribes  of  the  Baltic  were  con- 
sidered by  the  Russia- :  princes  and  republics  of  the  north-west 
as  their  subjects  or  tributaries.  If  the  Danish  Cnut  the  Great 
had  conquered  Esthonia,  laroslaf  the  Great  had  founded  lourief 
(Dorpai)  on  the  Fjnbach  which  falls  into  the  Peipus,  and  then 
sep-jrated  the  Danish  and  Russian  dominions.  It  separates  to- 
day the  country  of  the  Einns  into  two  peoples  speaking  different 
dialects,  the  dialect  of  Revel  and  that  of  Dorpat.  A  Mstislaf, 
son  of  Vladimir  Monomachus,  had  conquered  the  city  of  Oden- 
paeh  (Finnish  bear's  head)  from  the  Tchouds.  In  the  Lett 
coui.try  the  princes  of  Polotsk  had  captured  the  native  fortresses 
of  Gersike  and  Kokenhausen  on  the  Dwina,  and  extended  their 
influence  along  this  river  to  Thoreida  and  Ascheraden. 

\\'ith  the  German  merchants  Latin  missionaries  soon  began 
to  make  their  appearance  on  the  Baltic.  The  monk  Meinhard, 
sent  by  the  Archbishop  of  Bremen,  converted  the  Livonians, 
and  was  created  bisiiop  of  Livonia.  Tiiat  which  the  Germans 
really  brought,  under  the  cloak  of  Christianity,  to  the  Lett  and 
descendants  of  the  Tchoud  hero  Kalevy,  and  to  many  other 
Slav,  Lithuanian,  or  Einnish  tribes,  now  extinct,  was  the  ruin 
of  their  national  independence  and  servitude.  The  German 
merchant  and  the  German  missionary  appeared  almost  at  the 
same  time  on  the  Dwina.     The  apostle  Meinhard  built  a  chureb 


1 08  HJS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSTA. 

at  Uexkull,  and  a  fortress  round  the  church  (1187).  From  this 
fatal  day  these  brave  tribes  lost  their  lands  and  their  liberty. 
The  Livonians  soon  saw  to  what  this  mission  tended.  They  rose 
against  the  missionaries,  and  in  1198  the  second  bishop  of 
Livonia  perished  in  battle.  The  natives  returned  to  their  gods, 
and  plunged  in  the  Dwina  to  wash  off  the  baptism  they  had  re- 
ceived, and  to  send  it  back  to  Germany.  Then  Innocent  III. 
preached  a  crusade  against  them,  and  Albert  of  Buxhcewden 
(i  198-1229),  their  third  bishop  and  the  true  founder  of  the  Ger- 
man rule  in  Livonia,  entered  the  Dwina  with  a  fleet  of  twenty- 
three  ships,  and  built  the  town  of  Riga,  which  he  made  his 
capital  (1200).  The  following  year  he  installed  the  Order  of 
the  Brothers  of  the  Army  of  Christ,  or  the  Sword-bearers,  to 
whom  the  Pope  gave  the  statutes  of  the  Templars.  They  wore 
a  white  mantle,  with  a  red  cross  on  the  shoulders.  The  greater 
number  were  natives  of  Westphalia  and  Saxony.  Vinno  de 
Rohrbach  was  their  first  grand  master.  The  Livonians,  after 
having  implored  the  help  of  the  princes  of  Polotsk,  marched  on 
Riga,  and  suffered  an  entire  defeat  (1206).  The  prince  of  Po- 
lotsk in  his  turn  besieged  the  city  during  the  absence  of  the 
bishop,  but  it  was  saved  by  the  arrival  of  a  German  flotilla. 

Three  causes  were  particularly  favorable  to  the  success  of 
the  knights  of  the  sword,  namely  :  the  weakness  of  the  princes 
of  Polotsk,  the  intestine  quarrels  of  Novgorod,  which  prevented 
her  from  watching  over  Russian  interests,  and  the  divisions 
among  the  natives  who  had  not  yet  been  able  to  raise  their 
minds  from  the  conception  of  the  tribe  to  that  of  the  nation. 
The  knights  were  likewise  far  superior  in  their  arms  and  tactics. 
The  German  fortresses  were  solidly  built  in  cemented  stone, 
while  those  of  the  natives  were  ramparts  of  earth,  wood,  or  loose 
stones.  In  vain  they  tried  to  drag  down  with  ropes  the  pali- 
sades of  the  German  ramparts.  The  Swo- d-bearers  afterwards 
undertook  a  series  of  campaigns  against  the  Livonians  and  the 
Semigalli  of  the  Dwina,  and  against  the  Tchouds  of  the  north 
and  the  Letts  of  the  south-east.  If  a  tribe  declined  baptism 
and  obedience,  it  was  delivered  a  prey  to  fire  ana  sword  ;  when 
it  submitted,  hostages  were  taken,  and  castles  built  pn  its  terri- 
tory, these  being  often  merely  German  reconstructions  of  the 
ancient  native  fortresses. 

It  was  in  this  manner  that  Riga,  Kirchholm,  Uexkiill,  Len- 
newarden,  Ascheraden,  and  Kreuzburg  were  built  on  the  Dwina  ; 
Neuhausen,  near  the  Peipus,  W'olmar,  Wenden,  Segevold,  and 
Kremon  on  the  Aa ;  Lellin  and  Weissenstein  among  the 
Northern  Tchouds.  The  strangers  managed  to  take  Koken- 
hausen  and  Gersike  from  the  princes  of  Polotsk,  Odenpaeh  and 


HTSTOR  V  OF  RUSSIA.  1 09 

Dorpat  from  the  Novgorodians  ;  Pskof  was  threatened.  In  the 
north  Kolyvan  was  bought  from  the  king  of  Denmark,  after 
the  fiercest  disputes.  Under  its  rock  lies  Kolyvan,  a  Titan 
hero  of  Finnish  mvthologv.     The  town  is  now  called  Revel. 

The  conquered  country  was  divided  into  fiefs,  some  of  which 
belonged  to  the  Order  by  whom  they  were  distributed  among 
the  knights,  the  rest  were  at  the  disposal  of  the  archbishop,  who 
enfeoffed  his  own  men.  The  new  towns  received  the  constitu- 
tion of  the  merchant  cities  of  Lubeck,  Bremen,  or  Hamburg. 
Riga  was  the  most  powerful  of  them.  The  archbishop  of  Riga, 
the  chapter,  the  town  and  the  grand  master  of  the  Order,  often 
quarrelled  over  their  respective  rights.  Their  divisions  were 
one  day  to  bring  about  the  decline  of  the  institution. 

About  1225  another  military  fraternity  was  established 
among  the  Prussian  Lithuanians,  the  Teutonic  Order,  which,  on 
the  remains  of  the  subject  pagan  tribes,  raised  Thorn,  Marien- 
berg,  Elbing  and  Koenigsberg.  The  Teutons  of  Prussia  and 
the  knights  of  Livonia  were  certain  to  be  friendly;  the  black 
cross  fraternized  with  the  red,  and,  in  1237,  the  two  orders  united 
into  one  association.  The  Teutonic  huubncistcr,  Hermann  de 
Balk,  became  landvieistcr  of  Livonia.  The  grand  master  of  the 
Teutonic  Order  took  precedence  of  all  the  landmeisters. 
Strengthened  by  this  alliance,  the  "  brothers  of  the  army  of 
Christ  "  were  able  to  impose  the  most  cruel  servitude  on  the 
aboriginal  Letts,  Livonians,  and  Finns.  These  brave  barbarians 
soon  became  peasants  attached  to  the  glebe.  The  German  no- 
bility restored  them  their  liberty  at  the  beginning  of  this  cen- 
turv,  but  it  did  not  restore  them  their  lands. 

The  conquering  and  conquered  races  are  always  separate. 
To  the  Tchoud,  the  word  Saxa  (Saxon,  German)  always  signifies 
the  master.  A  song  of  the  Tchoud  country  of  Pskof,  called  The 
days  of  Slai'ery,  deplores  the  time  when  "  the  banners  of  the 
strangers  waved,  when  the  intruders  made  us  slaves,  enchained 
us  as  the  serfs  of  tyrants,  forced  us  to  be  their  servants. 
Brother,  what  can  I  sing?  Sadly  sounds  the  song  of  tears. 
The  lot  of  the  slave  is  too  hard."  Another  song  of  Wiesland 
(Esthonia)  is  entitled  The  Days  of  the  Fast.  "The  past,  that 
was  the  time  of  massacre,  a  long  time  of  suffering  .  .  .  Destroy- 
ing fiends  were  unchained  against  us.  The  priests  strangled  us 
with  their  rosaries,  the  greedy  knights  plundered  us,  troops  of 
brigands  ravaged  us,  armed  murderers  cut  us  in  pieces.  The 
father  of  the  cross  stole  our  riches,  stole  the  treasure  from  the 
hiding-place,  attacked  the  tree,  the  sacred  tree,  polluted  the 
waters  and  the  fountain  of  salvation.     The  axe  smote  on  the 


1  lo  HISTOR  Y  OF  RUSSIA. 

oak  of  Tara,  the  woful  hatchet  on  the  tree  of  Kero."     (Richter, 
'Geschichte  der  deutschen  Ostseeprovinzen.') 

In  the  Kalevy-poeg,  or  "  the  son  of  Kalev,"  the  national  poem 
of  the  Tchoud-Estbonians,  the  hero,  who  is  the  personification  of 
the  race,  displays  in  his  various  adventures  a  wonderful  Titanic 
force.  He  swam  the  Gulf  of  Finland,  he  rooted  up  oak-trees  to 
make  his  clubs  ;  with  his  horse  and  his  colossal  harrow  he 
ploughed  up  the  land  of  Esthonia  ;  he  exterminated  the  bears 
and  the  beasts  of  prey;  he  conquered  the  magician  of  Finland, 
and  the  genii  of  the  caves ;  he  descended  into  hell  and  fought 
with  Sarvig  the  horned  ;  he  sailed  away  to  explore  the  utmost 
limits  of  the  world,  and  when  the  hot  breath  of  the  spirits  of  the 
north  burnt  up  his  wooden  vessel,  he  disembarked  in  a  vessel 
of  silver  with  fittings  of  metal.  He  braved  whirlwinds  at  sea  ; 
discovered  the  isle  of  flame  (which  is  perhaps  Iceland,  where 
the  three  volcanoes  vomit  forth  fi^'e),  of  smoke,  and  boiling 
water  ;  he  encountered  a  gigantic  woman  who  plucked  up  sev- 
eral sailors  with  the  grass  for  the  kine,  as  if  the  men  had  been 
insects  ;  he  rallied  the  courage  of  his  pilot,  horror-stricken  by 
the  flames  with  which  the  spirits  of  the  north  filled  heaven,  and 
said  to  him,  "  Let  them  send  their  darts  of  fire,  they  will  onlv 
lighten  us  on  our  way,  since  the  daylight  would  not  accompany 
us,  and  the  sun  has  long  since  gone  to  rest."  He  fought  with 
men  whose  bodies  were  like  dogs  (possibly  the  Esquimaux  of 
Greenland),  and  only  retraced  his  steps  because  a  magician  as- 
sured him  ''  that  the  wall  of  the  world's  end  was  still  far  ofl^." 
It  is  at  the  close  of  the  poem,  when  he  is  told  that  the  men  of 
iron  {raiidamchcd  in  Tchoud)  have  landed,  that  his  unconquer- 
able heart  is  troubled.  The  iron  cannot  penetrate  their  armor, 
nor  the  axe  break  it.  In  vain  he  seeks  counsel  at  the  tomb  of 
his  father ;  the  tomb  is  silent,  "  the  leaves  murmur  plaintively, 
the  winds  sigfh  drearilv,  the  dew  itself  is  troubled,  the  eve  of  the 
clouds  is  wet;"  all  Esthonian  nature  shares  in  the  sinister  fore- 
bodings of  the  national  hero.  He  raised,  however,  the  battle- 
cry,  and  his  warriors  assembled  on  the  Embach.  Eloody  is  the 
battle  !  The  Esthonians  gain  the  victorv,  but  what  a  victorv  ! 
The  bravest  of  them  are  dead,  the  two  brothers  of  Kalevy-poeg 
perish,  his  charger  is  struck  down  by  the  axe  of  a  stranger.  The 
end  of  Esthonia,  the  age  of  slavery  has  arrived  ;  it  is  time  that 
Kalevy-poeg,  the  representative  of  the  heroic  age,  should  dis- 
appear ;  he  who  had  vanquished  the  demon  Sarvig,  the  sorcer- 
ers of  Finland,  and  the  spirits  of  the  pole,  could  not  subdue 
these  men  whom  an  unknown,  irresistible  force  sustained,  superior 
¥0  that  of  the  gods.  Behold  him,  the  captive  of  Mana,  god  of 
death,  his  wrist  held  fast  in   a  rock,  which  is  the  gate   of  hell. 


HISTOR  Y  OF  R USSIA.  1 1 1 

Long  his  sons  trusted  that  Mana  would  give  him  back  his  lil> 
ertv,  and  tiiat  once  again  the  iron  men  would  feel  the  weight  of 
his' arm;  but,  like  King  Arthur,  he  has  never  appeared,  bring- 
ing to  his  people  the  liberty  that  the  Germans  have  taken  from 
them. 


1 1 2  HIS2  OR  Y  OF  R  USSIA. 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE   TATAR   MONGOLS.       ENSLAVEMENT  OF   RUSSIA, 

Origin  and  manners  of  the  Mongols — Battles  of  the  Kalka,  of  Riazan,  of 
Kolomna,  and  of  the  Sit — Conquest  of  Russia — Alexander  Nevski — The 
Mongol  yoke — Influence  of  the  Tatars  on  the  Russian  development. 


ORIGIN  AND  MANNERS  OF  THE  MONGOLS. 

Up  to  this  time  tlie  destinies  of  Russia  had  presented  some 
analogy  with  those  of  the  West.  Slavonia,  iike  Gaul,  had  re- 
ceived Roman  civilization  and  Christianity  from  the  South.  The 
Northmen  had  brought  her  an  organization  which  recalls  that  ot 
the  Germans  ;  and  under  laroslaf,  like  the  W«st  under  Charlt  s 
the  Great,  she  had  enjoyed  a  certain  semblat  ce  of  unity,  while 
she  was  afterwards  dismembered  and  divider"*  like  France  in 
feudal  times.  But  in  the  13th  century,  Russia  suffered  an  un- 
heard-of misfortune — she  was  invaded  and  subju-^ated  by  Asiatic 
hordes.  This  fatal  event  contributed  quite  as  n  uch  as  the  dis- 
advantage of  the  soil  and  the  climate  to  retard  htv  development 
by  many  centuries.  "  Nature,"  as  M.  Solovief  says,  "  has  been 
a  step-mother  to  Russia ;"  fate  was  another  step-mother. 

"  In  those  times,"  say  the  Russian  chroniclers,  "  there  came 
upon  us  for  our  sins,  unknown  nations.  No  one  could  tell  their 
origin,  whence  they  came,  what  religion  they  professed.  God 
alone  know  who  they  were,  God  and  perhaps  wise  men  learned 
in  books."  When  we  think  of  the  horror  of  the  whole  of  Europe 
at  the  arrival  of  the  Mongols,  and  the  anguish  of  a  Frederick,  ot 
a  Saint  Louis,  an  Innocent  IV.,  we  may  imagine  the  terror  of 
the  Russians.  They  bore  the  first  shock  of  those  mysterious 
foemen,  who  were,  so  the  people  whispered,  Gog  and  Magog, 
who  '•  were  to  come  at  the  end  of  the  world,  when  Antichrist  is 
to  destroy  everything."     (Joinville.) 

The  Ta-ta  or  Tatars  seem  to  have  been  a  tribe  of  the  great 
Mongol  race,  living  at  the  foot  of  the  Altai,  who  in  spite  of  their 
long-continued  discords  frequently  found  means  to  lay  waste 
China  by  their  invasions.     The  portrait  drawn  of  them  recalls  in 


HISl'OK  \  -  or  R  USSTA.  1 13 

many  ways  those  already  traced  by  Chinese,  Latiri,  and  Greek 
authors,  of  the  Huns,  the  Avars,  and  other  nomad  peoples  of 
former  invasions.  "  The  Ta-izis  or  the  Das,"  says  a  Chinese 
writer  of  the  13th  century,  "occupy  themselves  exclusively  with 
their  flocks;  they  go  wandering  ceaselessly  from  pasture  to 
pasture,  from  river  to  river.  They  are  ignorant  of  the  nature  of 
a  town  or  a  wall.  They  are  unacquainted  with  writing  and 
books;  their  treaties  are  concluded  orally.  From  infancy  they 
are  accustomed  to  ride,  to  aim  their  arrows  at  rats  and  birds, 
and  thus  acquire  the  courage  essential  to  their  life  of  wars  and 
rapine.  They  have  neither  religious  ceremonies  nor  judicial  in- 
stitutions. From  the  prince  to  the  lowest  among  the  people  all 
are  nourished  by  the  flesh  of  the  animals  whose  skin  they  use 
for  clothing.  The  strongest  among  them  have  the  largest  and 
fattest  morsels  at  feasts  ;  the  old  men  are  put  off  with  the  frag- 
ments that  are  left.  They  respect  nothing  but  strength  and 
bravery ;  age  and  weakness  are  condemned.  When  the  father 
dies,  the  son  marries  his  youngest  wives."  A  Mussulman  writer 
adds,  that  they  adore  the  sun,  and  practice  polygamy  and  the 
community  of  wives.  This  pastoral  people  did  not  take  an  in- 
terest in  any  phenomenon  of  nature  except  the  growth  of  grass. 
The  names  they  gave  to  their  months  were  suggested  by  the 
different  aspects  of  the  prairie.  Born  horsemen,  they  had  no 
infantry  in  war.  They  were  ignorant  of  the  art  of  sieges.  "  But," 
says  a  Chinese  author,  "  when  they  wish  to  take  a  town,  they 
fall  on  the  suburban  villages.  Each  leader  seizes  ten  men,  and 
every  prisoner  is  forced  to  carry  a  certain  quantity  of  wood, 
stones,  and  other  materials.  They  use  these  for  filling  np  fosses, 
or  digging  trenches.  In  the  capture  of  a  town,  the  loss  of  10,000 
nicn  was  thought  nothing.  No  place  could  resist  them.  After 
a  siege,  all  the  population  was  massacred,  without  distinction  of 
old  or  young,  rich  or  poor,  beautiful  or  ngly,  those  who  resisted 
or  those  who  yielded  ;  no  distinguished  person  escaped  death,  if 
a  defence  was  attempted." 

It  was  these  rough  tribes  that  Temoutchine  or  Genghis-Khan 
(i  154-1227)  succeeded  in  uniting  into  one  nation  after  forty  years 
of  obscure  struggles.  Then  in  a  general  congress  of  their  princes 
he  proclaimed  himself  emperor,  and  declared  that,  as  there  was 
only  one  sun  in  heaven,  there  ought  only  to  be  one  emperor  ou 
the  earth.  At  the  head  of  their  forces  he  conquered  Mantchouria, 
the  kingdom  of  Tangout,  Northern  China,  Turkestan,  and  Great 
Bokhara,  which  never  recovered  this  disaster,  and  the  plains  of 
Western  Asia  as  far  as  the  Crimea.  When  he  died,  he  left  to 
be  divided  between  his  four  sons  the  largest  empire  that  ever 
existed. 


1 1 4  HISTOR  Y  OF  RUSSIA, 

It  was  during  his  conquest  of  Bokhara  that  his  lieutenants 
Tchepe  and  Souboudai-bagadour  subdued  in  their  passage  a 
multitude  of  Turkish  peoples,  passed  the  Caspian  by  its  southern 
shore,  invaded  Georgia  and  the  Caucasus,  and  in  the  southern 
steppes  of  Russia  came  in  contact  with  the  Polovtsi. 


BATTLES    OF   THE    KALKA,    OF    RIAZAN,    OF    KOLOMNA,    AND    OF    THE 
SIT CONQUEST    OF    RUSSIA. 

The  hereditary  enemies  of  the  Russians  proper,  the  Polovsti, 
asked  the  Christian  princes  for  help  against  these  ]\Iongols  and 
Turks,  who  were  their  brothers  bv  a  common  orisrin.  "  Thev 
have  taken  our  country,"  said  they  to  the  descendants  of  Saint 
Vladimir;  "to-morrow  they  will  take  yours."  Mstislaf  the 
Bold,  then  prince  of  Galitch,  persuaded  all  the  dynasties  of 
Southern  Russia  to  take  up  arms  against  the  Tatars  :  his  nephew 
Danial,  prince  of  Voihynia,  Mstislaf  Romanovitch,  Grand  Prince 
of  Kief,  Oleg  of  Koursk,  Mstislaf  of  Tchernigof,  Vladimir  of 
Smolensk,  Vsevolod  for  a  short  time  prince  of  Novgorod,  re- 
sponded to  his  appeal.  To  cement  his  alliance  with  the  Russians, 
Basti,  khan  of  the  Polovsti,  embraced  orthodox}-.  The  Russian 
army  had  already  arrived  on  the  Lower  Dnieper,  when  the  Tatar 
ambassadors  made  their  appearance.  "  We  have  come  by  God's 
command  against  our  slaves  and  grooms,  the  accursed  Polovtsi. 
Be  at  peace  with  us ;  we  have  no  quarrel  with  you."  The  Rus- 
sians, with  the  promptitude  and  thoughtlessness  that  character- 
ized the  men  of  that  time,  put  the  ambassadors  to  death.  They 
then  went  further  into  the  steppe,  and  encountered  the  Asiatic 
hordes  on  the  Kalka,  a  small  river  running  into  the  Sea  of  Azof. 
The  Russian  chivalry  on  this  memorable  day  showed  the  same 
disordered,  and  the  same  ill-advised  eagerness  as  the  French 
chivalry  at  the  opening  of  the  English  wars.  Mstislaf  the  Bold, 
Daniel  of  Galitch,  and  Oleg  of  Koursk  were  the  first  to  rush 
into  the  midst  of  the  infidels,  without  waiting  for  the  princes 
of  Kief,  and  even  without  giving  them  warning,  in  order  to 
gain  for  themselves  the  honors  of  victory.  In  the  middle  of 
the  combat,  the  Polovsti  were  seized  with  a  panic  and  fell  back 
on  the  Russian  ranks,  thus  throwing  them  into  disorder.  The 
rout  became  general,  and  the  leaders  S]Durred  on  their  steeds  in 
hopes  of  reaching  the  Dnieper. 

Six  princes  and  seventy  of  the  chief  boyards  or  voievodes  re- 
mained on  the  field  of  battle.  It  was  the  Cre^y  and  Poictiers  of 
the  Russian  chivalry.  Hardly  a  tenth  of  the  army  escaped  ;  the 
Kievians  alone  left  10,000  dead.    The  Grand  Prince  of  Kief, 


HIS  TOR  Y  OF  RUSSIA.  1 1 1^ 

however,  Mstislaf  Roinanovitch,  still  occupied  a  fortified  camp 
on  the  banks  of  the  Kalka.  Abandoned  bv  the  rest  of  the  army, 
he  tried  to  defend  himself.  I'he  Tatars  offered  to  make  terms  • 
he  might  retire  on  payment  of  a  ransom  for  himself  and  his 
drotijina.  He  capitulated,  and  the  conditions  were  broken.  His 
guard  was  massacred,  and  he  and  his  two  sons-in-law  were 
stifled  under  planks.  The  Tatars  held  their  festival  over  the 
inanimate  bodies  (1224). 

After  this  thunderl)olt,  which  struck  terror  into  the  whole  of 
Russia,  the  Tatars  paused  and  returned  to  the  Kast.  Nothing 
more  was  heard  of  them.  Thirteen  years  passed,  during  which 
the  princes  reverted  to  their  perpetual  discords.  Those  in  the 
north-east  had  given  no  help  to  the  Russians  of  the  Dnieper; 
perhaps  the  Grand  Prince,  George  II.  of  Souzdal,  may  have  re- 
joiced over  the  humiliation  of  the  Kievians  and  Gallicians.  The 
Mongols  were  forgotten;  the  chronicles,  however,  are  filled  with 
fatal  presages  :  in  the  midst  of  scarcity,  famine  and  pestilence, 
of  incendiaries  in  the  towns  and  calamities  of  all  sorts,  they  re- 
mark on  the  comet  of  1224,  the  earthquake  and  eclipse  of  the 
sun  of  1230. 

The  Tatars  were  busy  finishing  the  conquest  of  China,  but 
presently  one  of  the  sons  of  Genghis,  Ougoudei  or  Oktai,  sent 
his  nephew  Bati  to  the  West.  As  the  reflux  of  the  Polovtsi  had 
announced  the  invasion  of  1224,  that  of  the  Saxin  nomads,  related 
to  the  Kliirghiz  who  took  refuge  on  the  lands  of  the  Bulgarians 
of  the  Volga,  warned  men  of  a  new  irruption  of  the  Tatars,  and 
indicated  its  direction.  It  was  no  longer  South  Russia,  but 
Souzdalian  Russia  that  was  threatened.  In  1237  Bati  conquered 
the  Great  City,  capital  of  the  half-civilized  Bulgars,  who  were, 
like  the  Polovtsi,  ancient  enemies  of  Russia,  and  who  were  to 
be  included  in  her  ruin.  Bolgary  was  given  up  to  the  flames, 
and  her  inhabitants  were  put  to  the  sword.  The  Tatars  next 
plunged  into  the  deep  forests  of  the  Volga,  and  sent  a  sorcerer 
and  two  officers  as  envoys  to  the  princes  of  Riazan.  The  three 
princes  of  Riazan,  those  of  Pronsk,  Kolomna,  Moscow  and 
Mourom,  advanced  to  meet  them.  "  If  you  want  peace,"  said 
the  Tatars,  "give  us  the  tenth  of  your  goods.'"  ''  Wlien  we  are 
dead,"  replied  the  Russian  j^rinces,  "  you  can  have  the  whole." 
Though  abandoned  by  the  princes  of  Tchernigof  and  the  Grand 
Prince  George  II.,  of  whom  they  had  implored  help,  the  dynasty 
of  Riazan  accepted  the  unequal  struggle.  They  were  comjiletely 
crushed  ;  neatly  all  their  princes  remained  on  the  field  of  battle. 
Legend  has  embellished  their  fall.  It  is  told  how  Feodor  pre- 
ferred to  die  rather  than  see  his  young  wife,  Euphrasia,  the  spoil 
of  Bati  J  and  how  on  learning  his  fate,  she  threw  herself  and  her 


1 1 6  HISTOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA. 

son  from  the  window  of  the  tcre7n.  Oleg  the  Handsome,  found 
still  alive  on  the  battle-field,  repelled  the  caresses,  the  attention, 
and  religion  of  the  Khan,  and  was  cut  in  pieces.  Riazan  was 
immediately  taken  by  assault,  sacked,  and  burned.  All  the 
towns  of  the  principality  suffered  the  same  fate. 

It  was  now  the  turn  of  the  Grand  Prince,  for  the  Russia  of  the 
North-east  had  not  even  the  honor  of  falling  in  a  great  battle  like 
the  Russia  of  the  South-west,  united  for  once  against  the  common 
enemy.  The  Souzdalian  army,  commanded  by  a  son  of  George 
II.,  was  beaten  on  the  day  of  Kolomna,  on  the  Oka.  The  Tatars 
burned  Moscow,  then  beseiged  Vladimir  on  the  Kliazma,  which 
George  II.  had  abandoned  to  seek  for  help  in  the  North.  His 
two  sons  were  charged  with  the  defence  of  the  capital.  Princes 
and  boyards,  feeling  there  was  no  alternative  but  death  or  servi- 
tude, prepared  to  die.  The  princesses  and  all  the  nobles  prayed 
Bishop  Metrophanes  to  give  them  the  tonsure ;  and  when  the 
Tatars  rushed  into  the  town  by  all  its  gates,  the  vanquished  re- 
tired into  the  cathedral,  where  they  perished,  men  and  women, 
in  a  general  conflagration.  Souzdal,  Rostof,  laroslavl,  fourteen 
towns,  a  multitude  of  villages  in  the  Grand  Principality,  were  all 
given  over  to  the  flames  (1238).  The  Tatars  then  went  to  seek 
the  Grand  Prince,  who  was  encamped  on  the  Sit,  almost  on  the 
frontier  of  the  possessions  of  Novgorod.  George  II.  could 
neither  avenge  his  people  nor  his  family.  After  the  battle,  the 
bishop  of  Rostof  found  his  headless  corpse  (1238).  His  nephew, 
Vassilko,  who  was  taken  prisoner,  was  stabbed  for  refusing  to 
serve  Bati.  The  immense  Tatar  army,  after  having  sacked  Tver, 
took  Torjok  ;  there  "  the  Russian  heads  fell  beneath  the  sword 
of  the  Tatars  as  grass  beneath  the  scythe,"  The  territory  of 
Novgorod  was  invaded  ;  the  great  republic  trembled,  but,  the 
deep  forests  and  the  swollen  rivers  delayed  Bati.  The  invading 
flood  reached  the  Cross  of  Ignatius,  about  fifty  miles  from  Nov- 
gorod, then  returned  to  the  South-east.  On  the  way  the  small 
town  of  Kozelsk  (near  Kalouga)  checked  the  Tatars  for  so  long, 
and  inflicted  on  them  so  much  loss,  that  it  was  called  by  them 
the  wicked  totun.  Its  population  was  exterminated,  and  the  prince 
Vassili,  still  a  child,  was  "  drowned  in  blood." 

The  two  following  years  (i  239-1 240)  were  spent  by  the  Tatars 
in  ravaging  Southern  Russia.  They  burnt  Pereiaslaf,  and 
Tchernigof,  defended  with  desperation  by  its  princes.  Next 
Mangou,  grandson  of  Genghis  Khan,  marched  against  the  famous 
town  of  Kief,  whose  name  resounded  through  the  East,  and  in 
the  books  of  the  Arab  writers.  From  the  left  bank  of  the  Dnieper, 
the  barbarian  admired  the  great  city  on  the  heights  of  the  right 
bank,  towering  over  the  wide  river  with  her  white  walls  and 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


117 


towers  adorned  by  Byzantine  artists,  and  innumerable  churches 
with  cupolas  of  gold  and  silver.  Mangou  proposed  a  capitula- 
tion to  the  Kievians  ;  the  fate  of  Riazan,  of  Tchernigof,  of  Vladi- 
mir, the  capitals  of  powerful  states,  announced  to  them  the  lot 
that  awaited  them  in  case  of  refusal,  yet  the  Kievians  dared  to 
massacre  the  envoys  of  the  Khan.  Michael,  their  Grand  Prince, 
fled  ;  his  rival,  Daniel  of  Gal  itch,  did  not  care  to  remain.  On 
hearing  the  report  of  Mangou,  Bati  came  to  assault  Kief  with 
the  bulk  of  his  army.  The  grinding  of  the  wooden  chariots,  the 
bcllowings  of  the  buffaloes,  the  cries  of  tlie  camels,  the  neighing  o' 
the  horses,  the  bowlings  of  the  Tatars,  rendered  it  impossible,  say" 
the  annalist,  to  hear  your  own  voice  in  the  town.  The  Tatars  as 
sailed  the  Polish  Gate,  and  knocked  down  the  walls  with  a  batter 
ing-ram.  "  The  Kievians,  supported  by  the  brave  Dmitri,  a  Galli- 
cian  boyard,  defended  the  fallen  ramparts  till  the  end  of  the  day, 
then  retreated  to  the  Church  of  the  Dime,  which  they  surrounded 
by  a  palisade.  The  last  defenders  of  Kief  found  themselves  group- 
ed around  the  tomb  of  laroslaf.  Next  day  they  perished.  The 
Khan  gave  the  boyard  his  life,  but,  the  '  Mother  of  Russian  cities  ' 
was  sacked.  This  third  pillage  was  the  most  terrible,  Even 
the  tombs  were  not  respected.  All  that  remains  of  the  Church 
of  the  Dime  is  only  a  few  fragments  of  mosaic  in  the  Museum 
at  Kief.  Saint  Sophia,  and  the  Monastery  of  the  Catacombs, 
were  delivered  up  to  be  plundered  "  (1240). 

Volhynia  and  Gallicia  still  remained,  but  their  princes  could 
not  defend  them,  and  Russia  found  herself,  with  the  exception 
of  Novgorod  and  the  north-west  country,  under  the  Tatar  yoke. 
The  princes  had  fled  or  were  dead  ;  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
Russians  were  dragged  into  captivity.  Men  saw  the  wives  of 
boyards,  "  who  had  never  known  work,  who  a  short  time  ago 
had  been  clothed  in  rich  garments,  adorned  with  jewels  and 
collars  of  gold,  surrounded  with  slaves,  now  reduced  to  be  them- 
selves the  slaves  of  barbarians  and  their  wives,  turning  the 
wheel  of  the  mill,  and  preparing  their  coarse  food." 

If  we  look  for  the  causes  which  rendered  the  defeat  of  the 
brave  Russian  nation  so  complete,  we  may,  with  Karamsin,  in- 
dicate the  following: — i.  Though  the  Tatars  were  not  more  ad- 
vanced, from  a  military  point  of  view,  than  the  Russians,  who 
had  made  war  in  Greece  and  in  the  West  against  the  most  war- 
like and  civilized  people  of  Europe,  yet  they  had  an  enormous 
superiority  of  numbers.  Bati  probably  had  with  him  500,000 
warriors.  2.  This  immense  armv  moved  like  one  man  ;  it  could 
succei'sively  annihilate  the  droiijinas  oi  the  princes,  or  the  militia 
of  the  towns,  which  only  presented  themselves  successively  to  its 
blows.     The  Tatars  had  found  Russia  divided  against  herself. 


1 1 8  HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA. 

3.  Even  though  Russia  had  wished  to  form  a  confederation,  the 
sudden  irruptions  of  an  army  entirely  composed  of  horsemen 
did  not  leave  her  time.  4.  In  the  tribes  ruled  by  Bati,  every 
man  was  a  soldier;  in  Russia  the  nobles  and  citizens  alone  bore 
arms  :  the  peasants,  who  formed  the  bulk  of  the  population, 
allowed  themselves  to  be  stabbed  or  bound  without  resistance. 
5.  It  was  not  by  a  weak  nation  that  Russia  was  conquered. 
The  Tatar-Mongols,  under  Genghis  Khan,  had  filled  the  East 
with  the  glory  of  their  name,  and  subdued  nearly  all  Asia. 
Thev  arrived,  proud  of  their  exploits,  animated  by  the  recollec- 
tion of  a  hundred  victories,  and  reinforced  by  numerous  peoples 
whom  they  had  vanquished,  and  hurried  with  them  to  the  West. 
When  the  princes  of  Galitch,  of  Volhynia,  and  of  Kief  ar- 
rived as  fugitives  in  Poland  and  Hungary,  Europe  was  terror- 
stricken.  The  Pope,  whose  support  had  been  claimed  by  the 
Prince  of  Galitch,  summoned  Christendom  to  arms.  Louis  IX. 
prepared  for  a  crusade.  Frederic  II.,  as  Emperor,  wrote  to  the 
sovereigns  of  the  West :  "  This  is  the  moment  to  open  the  eyes 
of  body  and  soul,  now  that  the  brave  princes  on  whom  we  reck- 
oned are  dead  or  in  slavery."  The  Tatars  invaded  Hungary, 
gave  battle  to  the  Poles  in  Liegnitz  in  Silesia,  had  their  prog- 
ress a  long  while  arrested  by  the  courageous  defence  of  Olmiitz 
in  Moravia,  by  the  Tcheque  vo'ievode  laroslaf,  and  stopped 
finally,  learning  that  a  large  army,  commanded  by  the  King  of 
Bohemia  and  the  dukes  of  Austria  and  Carinthia,  was  approach- 
ing. The  news  of  the  death  of  OktaT,  second  Emperor  of  all 
}he  Tatars,  in  China,  recalled  Bati  from  the  West,  and  during 
>he  long  march  from  Germany  his  army  necessarily  diminished 
,n  number.  The  Tatars  were  no  longer  in  the  vast  plains  of 
A.sia  and  Eastern  Europe,  but  in  a  broken  hilly  country,  bristling 
/ith  fortresses,  defended  by  a  population  more  dense  and  a 
chivalry  more  numerous  than  those  in  Russia.  To  sum  up,  all 
the  fury  of  the  Mongol  tempest  spent  itself  on  the  Slavonic  race. 
it  was  the  Russians  who  fought  at  the  Kalka,  at  Kolomna,  at 
the  Sit ;  the  Poles  and  Silesians  at  Liegnitz  ;  the  Bohemians 
and  Moravians  at  Olmiitz.  The  Germans  suffered  nothing  from 
ihe  invasion  of  the  Mongols  but  the  fear  of  it.  It  exhausted  it- 
self principally  on  those  plains  of  Russia  which  seem  a  continu- 
ation of  the  steppes  of  Asia.  Only  in  Russian  history  did  the 
invasion  produce  great  results.  About  the  same  time  Bati  built 
on  one  of  the  arms  of  the  Lower  Volga  a  city  called  Sarai  (the 
Castle),  which  became  the  capital  of  a  powerful  Tatar  Empire, 
4he  Go/den  Horde,  extending  from  the  Oural  and  Caspian  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Danube.  The  Golden  Horde  was  formed  not  only 
of  Tatar-Mongols   or  Nogais,   who  even  now  survive   in    the 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


119 


Northern  Crimea,  but  particularly  of  the  remains  of  ancient 
nomads,  such  as  the  Patzinaks  and  Polovtsi,  whose  descendants 
seem  to  be  the  present  Kalmucks  and  Bachkirs  ;  of  Turkish 
tribes  tending  to  become  sedentary,  like  the  Tatars  of  Astrakhan 
in  the  present  day ;  and  of  the  Finnish  populations  already  es- 
tablished in  the  country,  and  which  mixed  with  the  invaders. 
OktaV,  Kouiouk,  and  Mangou,  the  first  three  successors  of  Gen- 
o;his  Khan,  elected  by  all  the  Mongol  princes,  took  the  title  of 
Great  Khans,  and  the  Golden  Horde  recognized  their  authority  ; 
but  under  his  fourth  successor,  Khouboulai,  who  usurped  the 
throne  and  established  himself  in  China,  this  bond  of  vassalage 
was  broken.  The  Ciolden  Horde  became  an  independent  Slate 
(1260).  United  and  powerful  under  the  terrible  I3ati,  who  died 
in  1255,  it  fell  to  pieces  under  his  successors  ;  but  in  the  14th 
century  the  Khan  Uzbeck  reunited  it  anew,  and  gave  the  horde 
a  second  period  of  prosperity.  The  Tatars,  who  were  pagans 
when  they  entered  Russia,  embraced  about  1272  the  faith  of 
Islam,  and  became  its  most  formidable  apostles. 


ALEXANDER   NEVSKI   (1252-1263). 

laroslaf,  after  his  defeat  at  Lipetsk,  entered  Souzdal  on  the 
tragic  death  of  his  brother,  the  Grand  Prince  George  II.  laros- 
laf (1238-1246)  found  his  inheritance  in  the  most  deplorable 
condition.  The  towns  and  villages  were  burnt,  the  country  and 
roads  covered  with  unburied  corpses  ;  the  survivors  hid  them- 
selves in  the  woods.  He  recalled  the  fugitives  and  began  to 
rebuild.  Bati,  who  had  completed  the  devastation  of  South 
Russia,  summoned  laroslaf  to  do  him  homage  at  Sara'i,  on  the 
Volga.  laroslaf  was  received  there  with  distinction,  Bati  con- 
firmed his  title  of  Grand  Prince,  but  invited  him  to  go  in  person 
to  the  Great  Khan,  supreme  chief  of  the  Mongol  nation,  who 
lived  on  the  banks  of  the  river  Sakhalian  or  Amour.  To  do 
this  was  to  cross  the  whole  of  Russia  and  Asia.  laroslaf  bent 
his  knees  to  the  new  master  of  the  world,  Oktai,  succeeded  in 
refuting  the  accusations  brought  against  him  by  a  Russian  boy. 
ard,  and  obtained  a  new  confirmation  of  his  title.  On  his  return 
he  died  in  the  desert  of  exhaustion,  and  his  faithful  servants 
brought  his  body  back  to  Vladimir.  His  son  Andrew  succeeded 
him  in  Souzdal  (i 246-1 252).  His  other  son,  Alexander,  reigned 
at  Novgorod  the  Great. 

Alexander  was  as  brave  as  he  was  intelligent.  He  was  the 
hero  of  the  Nortii,  and  jet  he  forced  himself  to  accept  the  neces- 
sary humiliations  of  liis  terrible  situation.     In  his  youth  we  see 


1 2  o  HISTOR  Y  OF  R  USSTA. 

him  fighting  with  all  the  enemies  of  Novgorod,  Livonian  knights 
and  Tchouds,  Swedes  and  Finns.  Tlie  Novgorodians  found 
themselves  at  issue  with  the  Scandinavians  on  the  subject  of 
tlieir  possessions  on  the  Neva  and  the  Gulf  of  Finland.  As  they 
had  helped  the  natives  to  resist  the  Latin  faith,  King  John  obtain- 
ed the  promise  of  Gregory  IX.  that  a  crusade,  with  plenary  in- 
dulgences, should  be  preached  against  the  Great  Republic  and 
her  p?-oteges,  the  pagans  of  the  Baltic.  His  son-in-law,  Birger, 
with  an  army  of  Scandinavians,  Finns,  and  Western  Crusaders, 
took  the  command  of  the  forces,  and  sent  word  to  the  Prince  of 
Novgorod,  "  Defend  \'ourself  if  vou  can  :  know  that  I  am  already 
in  your  provinces."  The  Russians  on  their  side,  feeling  they  were 
fighting  for  othodoxy,  opposed  the  Latin  crusade  with  a  Greek 
one.  Alexander  humbled  himself  in  Saint  Sophia,  received  the 
benediction  of  the  Archbishop  Spiridion,  and  addressed  an  ener- 
getic  harangue  to  his  warriors.  He  had  no  time  to  await  reinforce- 
ments from  Souzdal.  He  attacked  the  Swedish  camp,  which 
was  situated  on  the  Ijora,  one  of  the  southern  affluents  of  the 
Neva,  which  has  given  its  name  to  Ingria.  Alexander  won  a 
brilliant  victory,  which  gained  him  his  surname  of  Nevski,  and 
the  honor  of  becoming  under  Peter  the  Great,  the  second 
conqueror  of  the  Swedes,  one  of  the  patrons  of  St.  Petersburg. 
By  the  orders  of  his  great  successor  his  bones  repose  in  the 
Monastery  of  Alexander  Nevski.  The  battle  of  the  Neva  was 
preserved  in  a  dramatic  legend.  An  Ligrian  chief  told  Alexan- 
der how,  in  the  eve  of  the  combat,  he  had  seen  a  myste- 
rious bark,  manned  by  two  warriors  with  shining  brows,  glide 
through  the  night.  They  were  Boris  and  Gleb,  who  came 
to  the  rescue  of  their  voune:  kinsman.  Other  accounts  have 
preserved  to  us  the  individual  exploits  of  the  Russian  heroes — 
Gabriel,  Skylaf  of  Novgorod.  James  of  Polotsk,  Sabas,  who  threw 
down  the  tent  of  Birger,  and  Alexander  Nevski  himself,  who  with 
a  stroke  of  the  lance  "  imprinted  his  seal  on  his  face"  (1240). 
Notwithstanding  the  triumph  of  such  a  service,  Alexander  and 
the  Novgorodians  could  not  agree  ;  a  short  time  after,  he  retired 
to  Pere'iaslavl-Zaliesski.  The  proud  republicans  soon  had  reason  to 
regret  the  exile  of  this  second  Camillus.  The  Order  of  the 
Sword-bearers,  the  indefatigable  enemy  of  orthodoxy,  took  Pskof, 
their  ally  ;  the  Germans  imposed  tribute  on  the  Vojans,  vassals 
of  Novgorod,  constructed  the  fortress  of  Koporie  on  her  territory 
of  the  Neva,  took  the  Russian  town  of  Tessof  in  Esthonia,  and 
pillaged  the  merchants  of  Novgorod  within  seventeen  miles  of 
their  ramparts.  During  this  time  the  Tchouds  and  the  Lithua- 
nians captured  the  peasants,  and  the  cattle  of  the  citizens.  At 
last  Alexander  allowed  himself  to  be  touched  by  the  prayers  of 


ALEXANDER  NEVSKI. 


HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA.  1 2 1 

the  archbishop  and  the  people,  assembled  an  army,  expelled  the 
Germans  from  Koporie,  and  next  from  Pskof,  hung  as  traitors 
the  captive  Vojans  and  Tchouds,  and  put  to  death  six  knights 
who  fell  into  his  hands.  This  war  between  the  two  races  and 
two  religions  was  cruel  and  pitiless.  The  rights  of  nations  were 
hardly  recognized.  More  than  once  Germans  and  Russians  slew 
the  ambassadors  of  the  other  side.  Alexander  Nevski  finally 
gave  battle  to  the  Livonian  knights  on  the  ice  of  Lake  Peipus, 
killed  400  of  them,  took  50  prisoners,  and  exterminated  a  multi- 
tude of  Tchouds.  Such  was  ihe.  Battle  of  i/ie  Ice  (1242).  He 
returned  in  triumph  to  Novgorod,  dragging  with  him  his  prisoners 
in  armor  of  iron.  The  Grand  Master  expected  to  see  Alexander 
at  the  gates  of  Riga,  and  implored  help  of  Denmark.  The  Prince 
of  Novgorod,  satisfied  with  having  delivered  Pskof,  concluded 
peace,  recovered  certain  districts,  and  consented  to  the  exchange 
of  prisoners.  At  this  time  Innocent  IV.,  deceived  by  false  in- 
formation, addressed  a  bull  to  Alexander,  as  a  devoted  son  of 
the  Church,  assuring  him  that  his  father  laroslaf,  while  dying 
among  the  Horde,  had  desired  to  submit  himself  to  the  throne 
of  St.  Peter.  Two  cardinals  brought  him  this  letter  from  the 
Pope  (125 1). 

it  is  this  hero  of  the  Neva  and  Lake  Peipus,  this  vanquisher 
of  the  Scandinavians  and  Livonian  knights,  that  we  are  presently 
to  see  grovelling  at  the  feet  of  a  barbarian.  Alexander  Nevski 
had  understood  that,  in  presence  of  this  immense  and  brutal 
force  of  the  Mongols,  all  resistance  was  madness,  all  pride  ruin. 
To  brave  them  was  to  complete  the  overthrow  of  Russia.  His  con- 
duct may  not  have  been  chivalrous,  but  it  was  wise  and  humane. 
Alexander  disdained  to  play  the  hero  at  the  expense  of  his  peo- 
ple, like  his  brother  Andrew  of  Souzdal,  who  was  immediately 
obliged  to  fly,  abandoning  his  country  to  the  vengeance  of  the 
Tatars.  The  Prince  of  Novgorod  was  the  only  prince  in  Russia 
who  had  kept  his  independence,  but  he  knew  Bati's  hands  could 
extend  as  far  as  the  Ilmen.  "  God  has  subjected  many  peoples 
to  me,"  wrote  the  barbarian  to  him  :  "  will  vou  alone  refuse  to 
recognize  my  power  ?  If  you  wish  to  keep  your  land,  come  to 
me  ;  you  will  see  the  splendor  and  the  glory  of  my  sway."  'J'hen 
Alexander  went  to  Sarai  with  his  brother  Andrew,  who  disputed 
the  Grand  Principality  of  Vladimir  with  his  uncle  Sviatoslaf. 
Rati  declared  that  fame  had  not  exaggerated  the  merit  of 
Alexander,  that  he  far  excelled  the  common  run  of  Russian 
princes.  He  enjoined  the  two  brothers  to  show  themselves, 
like  their  father  laroslaf,  at  the  Great  Horde  ;  they  returned  from 
it  in  1257.     Kouiouk  had  confirmed  the  one  in  the  possession  of 


I   2  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

Vladimir,  and  the  other  in  that  of  Novgorod,  adding  to  it  all 
South  Russia  and  Kief. 

The  year  1260  put  the  patience  of  Alexander  and  his  politic 
obedience  to  the  Tatars  to  the  proof.  Oulavtchi,  to  whom  the 
Khan  BerkaY  had  confided  the  affairs  of  Russia,  demanded  that 
Novgorod  should  submit  to  the  census  and  pay  tribute.  It  was 
the  hero  of  the  Neva  that  was  charged  with  the  humiliating  and 
dangerous  mission  of  persuading  Novgorod.  When  the  possad- 
nik  uttered  in  the  vetche  the  doctrine  that  it  was  necessary  to 
submit  to  the  strongest,  the  people  raised  a  terrible  cry  and 
murdered  the  possadnik.  Vassili  himself,  the  son  of  Alexander, 
declared  against  a  father  "  who  brought  servitude  to  free  men  ;" 
and  retired  to  the  Pskovians.  It  needed  a  soul  of  iron  temper 
to  resist  the  universal  disapprobation,  and  counsel  the  Novgoro- 
dians  to  the  commission  of  the  cowardly  though  necessary  act. 
Alexander  arrested  his  son,  and  punished'  the  boyards  who  had 
led  him  into  the  revolt  with  death  or  mutilation.  The  7r/r///had 
decided  to  refuse  the  tribute,  and  send  back  the  Mongol  am- 
bassadors with  presents.  However,  on  the  rumor  of  the  approach 
of  the  Tatars,  they  repented,  and  Alexander  could  announce  to 
the  enemy  that  Novgorod  submitted  to  the  census.  But  when 
they  saw  the  officers  of  the  Khan  at  work,  the  population  re- 
volted again,  and  the  prince  was  obliged  to  keep  guard  on  the 
officers  night  and  day.  In  vain  the  boyards  advised  the  citizens 
to  give  in  :  assembled  around  St.  Sophia,  the  people  declared 
they  would  die  for  liberty  and  honor.  Alexander  (hen  threaten- 
ed to  quit  the  city  with  his  men,  and  abandon  it  to  the  vengeance 
of  the  Khan.  This  menace  conquered  the  pride  of  the  Novgoro- 
dians.  The  Mongols  and  their  agents  might  go,  register  in 
hand,  from  house  to  house  in  the  humiliated  and  silent  city  to 
make  the  list  of  the  inhabitants.  "  The  boyards,"  says  Karam- 
sin,  "  might  yet  be  vain  of  their  rank  and  their  riches,  but  the 
simple  citizens  had  lost  with  their  national  honor  their  most 
precious  possession  "  (1260). 

In  Souzdal  also  Alexander  found  himself  in  the  presence  of 
insolent  victors  and  exasperated  subjects.  In  1262  the  inhab- 
itants of  Vladimir,  of  Souzdal,  of  Rostof,  rose  against  the  collec- 
tors of  the  Tatar  impost.  The  people  of  laroslavl  slew  a  ren- 
egade named  Zozimus,  a  former  monk,  who  had  become  a  Mos- 
lem fanatic.  Terrible  reprisals  were  sure  to  follow.  Alexander 
set  out  with  presents  for  the  Horde  at  the  risk  of  leaving  his 
head  there.  He  had  likewise  to  excuse  himself  for  having  re- 
fused a  bodv  of  auxiliarv  Russians  to  the  Mongols,  wishing  at 
least  to  spare  the  blood  and  religious  scruples  of  his  subjects. 
It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  that,  over  the  most  profound  humilia- 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


123 


tions  of  the  Russian  nationality,  the  contemporary  history  al- 
ways throws  a  ray  of  glory.  At  tlie  moment  that  Alexander 
went  to  prostrate  himself  at  Sarai,  the  Souzdalian  army,  united 
to  that  of  Novgorod,  and  commanded  by  his  son  iJmiiri,  defeated 
the  Livonian  knights,  and  took  Dorpat  by  assault.  The  Khan 
Berkai  gave  Alexander  a  kind  greeting,  accepted  his  explana- 
tions, dispensed  with  the  promised  contingent,  but  kept  him  for 
a  year  near  his  court.  The  health  of  Alexander  broke  down  ; 
he  died  on  his  return  before  reaching  Vladimir.  When  the  news 
arrived  at  his  capital,  the  Metropolitan  Cyril,  who  was  finishing 
the  liturgy,  turned  towards  the  faithful,  and  said,  "  Learn,  my 
dear  children,  that  the  Sun  of  Russia  is  set,  is  dead."  "  We  are 
lost,"  cried  the  people,  breaking  forth  into  sobs.  Alexander  by 
this  policy  of  resignation,  which  his  chivalrous  heroism  does  not 
permit  us  to  despise,  had  secured  some  repose  for  exhausted 
Russia.  By  his  victories  over  his  enemies  of  the  West  he  had 
given  her  some  glory,  and  hindered  her  from  despairing  under 
the  most  crushing  tyranny,  material  and  moral,  which  a  European 
people  had  ever  suffered. 


THE    MONCOL    YOKE — INFLUENCE    OF   THE    TATARS    ON    THE   RUS 

SIAN    DEVELOPMENT. 

The  Mongol  khans,  after  having  devastated  and  abased  Rus- 
sia, did  not  introduce  any  direct  political  change.  They  left  to 
each  country  her  laws,  her  courts  of  justice,  her  natural  chiefs. 
The  house  of  Andrew  Bogolioubski  continued  to  reign  in  Souz- 
dal,  that  of  Daniel  Romanoviich  in  Gal  itch  and  Volhynia,  the 
Olgovitches  in  Tchernigof,  and  the  descendants  of  Rogvolod  the 
Varangian  at  Polotsk.  Novgorod  might  continue  to  expel  and 
recall  her  princes,  and  the  dynasties  of  the  South  to  dispute  the 
throne  of  Kief.  The  Russian  States  found  themselves  under 
the  Mongol  yoke,  in  much  the  same  situation  as  that  of  the 
Christians  of  the  Greco-Slav  peninsula  three  centuries  later, 
under  the  Ottomans.  The  Russians  remained  in  possession  of 
all  their  lands,  which  their  nomad  conquerors,  encamped  on  the 
steppes  of  the  East  and  South,  disdained.  They  were,  like  their 
Danubian  kinsmen,  a  sort  of  rayahs,  over  whom  the  authority  of 
the  khans  was  exerted  with  more  or  less  rigor,  but  whom  their 
conquerors  never  tried  in  any  way  to  Tatarize.  Let  us  see  ex- 
actly in  what  consisted  the  obligations  of  the  vanquished,  and 
their  relations  with  their  conquerors,  during  the  period  of  the 
Mongol  yoke  or  latarchtchitta. 


124  HIS  TOR  Y  OF  H  USSIA. 

I.  The  Russian  princes  were  forced  to  visit  the  Horde, 
either  as  evidence  of  their  submission,  or  to  give  the  Khan  op- 
portunity of  judging  their  disputes.  We  have  seen  how  they 
had  to  go  not  only  to  the  Khan  of  the  Golden  Horde,  but  often 
also  to  the  Grand  Khan  at  the  extremity  of  Asia,  on  the  borders 
of  the  Sakhalian  or  Amour,  They  met  there  the  chiefs  of  the 
Mongol,  Tatar,  Thibetian  and  Bokharian  hordes,  and  sometimes 
the  ambassador  of  the  Caliph  of  Bagdad,  of  the  Pope,  or  of  the 
King  of  France.  The  Grand  Khans  tried  to  play  off  against 
each  other  these  ambassadors,  who  were  astonished  to  meet  at 
his  court.  Mangou  Khan  desired  Saint  Louis  to  recognize  him 
as  the  master  of  the  world,  "for,"  said  he,  "  when  the  universe 
has  saluted  me  as  sovereign,  a  happy  tranquillity  will  reign  on 
the  earth."  In  the  case  of  refusal,  "neither  deep  seas  nor  inac- 
cessible mountains  "  would  place  the  King  of  France  beyond 
the  power  of  his  wrath.  To  the  princes  of  Asia  and  Russia  he 
displayed  the  presents  of  the  King  of  France,  affecting  to  con- 
sider them  as  tributes  and  signs  of  submission.  '•  We  will  send 
to  seek  him  to  confound  you,"  he  said  to  them,  and  Joinville  as- 
sures us  that  this  threat,  and  "the  fear  of  the  King  of  France," 
decided  many  to  throw  themselves  on  his  mercy.  This  journey 
to  the  Grand  Horde  was  terrible.  The  road  went  through  des- 
erts, or  countries  once  rich,  but  changed  by  the  Tatars  into  vast 
wastes.  Few  who  went  returned.  Planus  Carpinus,  envoy  of 
Innocent  IV.,  saw  in  the  steppes  of  the  Kirghiz  the  dry  bones 
of  the  boyards  of  the  unhappy  laroslaf,  who  had  died  of  thirst 
in  the  sand.  Planus  Carpinus  thus  describes  the  Court  of  Bati 
on  the  Volga: — "It  is  crowded  and  brilliant.  His  army  con- 
sists of  600.000  men,  150,000  of  whom  are  Tatars,  and  450,000 
strangers.  Christians  as  well  as  infidels.  On  Good  Friday  we 
were  conducted  to  his  tent,  between  two  fires,  because  the  Ta- 
tars pretend  that  a  fire  purifies  everything,  and  robs  even  poison 
of  its  danger.  We  had  to  make  many  prostrations,  and  enter 
the  tent  without  touching  the  threshold.  Bati  was  on  his  throne 
with  one  of  his  wives  ;  his  brothers,  his  children,  and  the  Tatar 
lords  were  seated  on  benches ;  the  rest  of  the  assembly  were  on 

the  ground,  the  men  on  the  right,  the  women  on  the  left 

The  Khan  and  the  lords  of  the  Court  emptied  from  time  to  time 
cups  of  gold  and  silver,  while  the  musicians  made  the  air  ring 
with  their  melodies.  Bati  has  a  bright  complexion  ;  he  is  affa- 
ble with  his  men,  but  inspires  general  terror."  The  Court  of 
the  Grand  Khan  was  still  more  magnificent.  Planus  Carpinus 
found  there  a  Russian  named  Koum,  who  was  the  favorite  and 
special  goldsmith  of  Galiouk  or  Kouiouk,  and  Rubruquis  discov- 
ered a  Parisian  goldsmith,  named  Guillaume.     Much  money  was 


HISTORY  OF  R 


J2S 


needed  for  success,  either  at  the  Court  of  the  Grand  Khan  or  of 
Bati.  Presents  had  to  be  distributed  to  the  Tatar  princes,  to 
the  favorites  ;  above  all  to  the  wives  and  the  mother  of  the 
Khan.  At  this  terrible  tribunal  the  Russian  princes  had  to 
struggle  with  intrigues  and  corruption  ;  the  heads  of  the  pleaders 
were  often  the  stakes  of  these  dreadful  trials.  The  most  dan- 
gerous enemies  they  encountered  at  the  Tatar  Court  were  no^ 
the  barbarians,  but  'the  Russians,  their  rivals.  The  history  of 
the  Russian  princes  at  the  Horde  is  very  tragic.  Thus  Michael 
of  Tchernigof  perished  at  the  Horde  of  Sarai  in  1246,  and  Mi- 
chael of  Tver  in  13 19,  the  one  assassinated  by  the  renegade 
Doman,  the  other  by  the  renegade  Romanetz,  at  the  instigation 
and  under  the  eyes  of  the  Grand  Prince  of  Moscow. 

2.  The  conquered  people  were  obliged  to  pay  a  capitation 
tax,  which  weighed  as  heavily  on  the  poor  as  on  the  rich.  The 
tribute  was  paid  either  in  money  or  in  furs  ;  those  who  were 
unable  to  furnish  it  became  slaves.  The  Khans  had  for  some 
time  farmed  out  this  revenue  to  some  Khiva  merchants,  who 
collected  it  with  the  utmost  rigor,  and  whom  they  protected  by 
appointing  superior  agents  called  baskaks,  with  strong  guards  to 
support  them.  The  excesses  of  these  tax-gatherers  excited 
many  revolts  :  in  1262,  that  of  Souzdal ;  in  1284,  that  of  Koursk  ; 
in  13 18,  that  of  Kolomna  ;  in  1327,  that  of  Tver,  where  the  in- 
habitants slew  the  (^(7^X'<7,(' Chevkal,  and  brought  down  on  them- 
selves frightful  reprisals.  Later,  the  princes  of  Moscow  them- 
selves farmed  not  only  the  tax  from  their  own  subjects,  but  alsc 
from  neighboring  countries.  They  became  the  farmers-general 
of  the  invaders.  This  was  the  origin  of  their  riches  and  their 
power. 

3.  Besides  the  tribute,  the  Russians  had  to  furnish  to  theii 
master  the  blood-tax,  a  military  contingent.  Already  at  the 
time  of  the  Huns  and  Avars,  we  have  seen  Slavs  and  Goths 
accompany  the  Asiatic  hordes,  form  their  vanguards,  and  be  as 
it  were  the  hounds  of  Baian.  In  the  13th  century,  the  Russian 
princes  furnished  to  the  Tatars  select  troops,  especially  a  solid 
infantry,  and  marched  in  their  armies  at  the  head  of  their  dtou- 
jinas.  It  was  thus  that  in  1276  Boris  of  Rostof,  Gleb  of  Bielo- 
rersk,  Feodor  of  laroslavl,  and  Andrew  of  Gorodetz  followed 
Mangou  Khan  in  a  war  against  the  tribes  of  the  Caucasus,  and 
sacked  Dediakof  in  Daghestan,  the  capital  of  the  lasses.  The 
Mongols  scrupulously  reserved  to  them  their  part  of  the  booty. 
The  same  Russian  princes  took  part  in  an  expedition  against 
an  adventurer  named  Lachan  by  the  Greek  historians,  formerly 
a  keeper  of  pigs,  who  had  raised  Bulgaria.  The  descendnnts 
of  Monomachus  behaved  still  more  dishonorably  in  the  troubles 


126  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

in  the  interior  of  Russia.  They  excited  the  Mongols  against 
their  countrymen  and  aided  the  invaders.  Prince  Andrew,  son 
of  Alexander  Ne.'ski,  piiiaged  in  12S1,  in  concert  with  the 
Tatars,  the  provinces  of  Vladimir,  Souzdal,  Mourom,  Moscow, 
and  Pere'iaslavl,  which  he  was  dispniing  with  Dmitri,  his  elder 
brother.  He  helped  the  barbarians  to  profane  churches  and 
convents.  In  1327  it  was  the  princes  of  Moscow  and  Souzdal 
who  directed  the  military  execution  against  Tver.  In  1284,  two 
Olgovitches  reigned  in  the  land  of  Koursk  ;  one  of  them,  Oleg, 
put  the  other  to  death  in  the  name  of  the  Khan.  Servitude  had 
so  much  abased  all  characters,  that  even  the  annalists  share  the 
general  degradation.  They  blame,  not  Oleg  the  murderer,  but 
Sviatoslaf  the  victim.  Was  it  not  his  unbridled  conduct  that 
caused  the  anger  of  the  Khan  ? 

4.  No  prince  could  ascend  the  throne  without  having  received 
the  investiture  and  the  iarlikJi,  or  letters  patent,  from  the  Khan. 
The  proud  Novgorodians  themselves  rejected  Michael,  their 
prince,  saying,  "  It  is  true  we  have  chosen  Michael,  but  on  the 
condition  that  he  should  show  us  the  iar/ikh.'" 

4.  No  Russian  State  dared  to  make  war  without  being 
authorized  to  do  so.  In  1269  the  Novgorodians  asked  leave  to 
march  against  Revel.  In  1303,  in  an  assembly  of  princes,  and 
in  the  presence  of  the  Metropolitan  Maximus,  a  decree  of  the 
Khan  Tokhta  was  read,  enjoining  the  princes  to  put  an  end  to 
their  dissensions,  and  to  content  themselves  with  their  appan- 
ages, it  being  the  will  of  the  Grand  Khan  that  the  Grand  Princi- 
pality should  enjoy  peace.  When  the  Mongol  ambassadors 
brought  a  letter  from  their  sovereign,  the  Russian  princes  were 
obliged  to  meet  them  on  foot,  prostrate  themselves,  spread 
precious  carpets  under  their  feet,  present  them  with  a  cup  filled 
with  gold  pieces,  and  listen,  kneeling,  while  the  iar/ikh  was 
read. 

Even  while  the  Tatars  conquered  the  Russians,  they  respected 
their  bravery.  Matrimonial  alliances  were  contracted  between 
their  princes.  About  1272,  Gleb,  prince  of  Bielozersk,  took  a 
wife  out  the  Khan's  family,  which  already  professed  Christianity, 
and  Feodor  of  Riazan  bec!ime  the  son-in-law  of  the  Khan  of  the 
Nogais,  who  assigned  to  the  young  couple  a  palace  in  Sara'i.  In 
13 18  the  Grand  Prince  George  married  Kontchaka,  sister  of 
Uzbeck  Khan,  who  was  baptized  by  the  name  of  Agatha.  To- 
wards the  end  of  the  14th  century,  the  Tatars  were  no  longer 
the  rude  shepherds  of  the  steppes.  Mingled  with  sedentary 
and  more  cultivated  races,  they  rebuilt  fresh  cities  on  the  ruins 
of  those  they  had  destroyed  ;  Krym  in  the  Crimea,  Kazan, 
Astrakhan,  and  Sarai.     They  had  acquired  a  taste  for  luxury  and 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA.  127 

magnificence,  honored  the  national  poets  who  sang  their  ex- 
ploits, piqued  themselves  on  their  chivalry  and  even  on  their 
gallantry.  Notwithstanding  the  difference  of  religion,  a  recon« 
ciliation  was  taking  place  between  the  aristocracy  of  the  two 
countries,  between  the  Russian  kjiiazcs  and  the  Tatar  trnmrzas. 

The  Russian  historians  are  not  entirely  agreed  as  to  the 
nature  and  degree  of  intiuence  exerted  by  the  Mongol  yoke  on 
the  Russian  development.  Karamsin  and  M.  Kostomarof  be- 
lieve it  to  have  been  considerable.  "  Perhaps,"  says  the  former 
"  our  national  character  still  presents  some  blots  which  are 
derived  from  the  Mongol  barbarism."  M.  Solovief,  on  the 
contrary,  affirms  that  the  Tatars  hardly  influenced  it  more  than 
the  Patzinaks  or  Polovtsi.  M.  Bestoujef-Rioumine  estimates 
the  influence  to  have  been  specially  exerted  on  the  financial  ad- 
ministration and  militarv  organization.  On  one  side  the  Tatars 
established  the  capitation-tax,  which  has  remained  in  the  financial 
system  of  Russia  ;  on  the  other,  the  conquered  race  had  a 
natural  tendency  to  adopt  the  military  system  of  the  victors.  The 
Russian  or  Mongol  princes  formed  a  caste  of  soldiers  hence- 
forth quite  distinct  from  Western  chivalry,  to  which  the  Russian 
heroes  of  the  12th  century  belonged.  The  warriors  of  Daniel 
of  Galitch,  it  is  said,  astounded  the  Poles  and  Hungarians  by 
the  Oriental  character  of  their  equipment.  Short  stirrups,  very 
high  saddles,  a  long  caftan  or  floating  dress,  a  sort  of  turban 
surmounted  by  an  aigret,  sabres  and  poniards  in  their  belts,  a 
bow  and  arrows — sucii  was  the  military  costume  of  a  Russian 
prince  of  the  15th  century. 

On  the  other  side,  many  of  the  peculiarities  in  which  the 
Mongol  influence  is  thought  traceable  may  be  attributed  as  well 
or  better  to  purely  Slav  traditions,  or  imitations  of  Byzantine 
manners.  If  the  Muscovite  princes  inclined  to  autocracy,  it 
was  not  that  they  formed  themselves  on  the  model  of  the  Grand 
Khan,  but  that  they  naturally  adopted  imperial  ideas  of  absolu- 
tism imported  from  Constantinople.  It  is  always  the  Roman 
Emperor  of  Tzargrad,  and  not  the  leader  of  Asiatic  shepherds, 
who  is  their  typical  monarch.  If  from  this  time  the  Russian 
penal  law  makes  more  frequent  use  of  the  pain  of  death  and 
corporal  punishment,  it  is  not  only  the  result  of  imitation  of  the 
Tatars,  but  of  the  evergrowing  influence  of  Byzantine  laws,  and 
the  progressive  triumph  of  their  principles  over  those  of  the  an- 
cient code  of  laroslaf.  Now  these  laws  so  very  easily  admitted 
torture,  flogging,  mutilation,  the  stake,  &c.,  that  there  is  no  need 
to  explain  anything  by  Mongol  usages.  The  habit  of  prostration, 
of  beating  the  forehead,  of  affecting  the  servile  submission,  is 
certainly  Oriential,  but  it  is  also  Byzantine.     The  seclusion  ot 


J  2  8  HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA . 

women  was  customary  in  ancient  Russia,  moulded  by  Greek 
missionaries,  and  tlie  Russian  terem  proceeds  more  certainly 
ix om  \.\\e  HeWemc  gyncBceum  than  from  the  Oriental  harem  \  all 
the  more  because  the  Tatar  women,  before  the  conversion  of  the 
Mongols  to  Islamism,  do  not  appear  to  have  been  secluded.  If 
the  Russians  of  the  17th  century  seem  strange  to  us  in  their 
long  robes  and  Oriental  fashions,  we  must  remember  that  the 
French  and  Italians  of  the  15th  century,  dressed  by  Venetian 
merchants,  displayed  the  same  taste.  Only  in  France  fashions 
made  advances,  while  in  Russia,  isolated  from  the  rest  of  Europe 
thev  remained  stationarv. 

From  a  social  point  of  view,  two  Russian  expressions  seem 
to  date  from  the  Tatar  invasion  :  tcherne,  or  the  black  people,  to 
designate  the  lower  orders  ;  and  kresiianifie,  signifying  the  peas- 
ant, that  is,  the  Christian  par  excellefice,  who  was  always  a 
stranger  to  the  Mongol  customs  adopted  for  a  short  time  by  the 
aristocracy.  As  to  the  amount  of  Mongol  or  Tatar  blood  mixed 
with  the  blood  of  the  Russians,  it  must  have  been  very  small  : 
the  aristocracy  of  the  two  countries  may  have  contracted  mar- 
ria£:es,  a  certain  number  of  mourzas  mav  have  become  Russian 
princes  by  their  conversion  to  orthodoxy,  but  the  two  races,  as  a 
whole,  remained  strangers.  Even  to-day,  while  the  autochtho- 
nous Finns  continue  to  be  Russified,  the  Tatar  cantons,  even 
though  converted  to  Christianitv,  are  still  Tatar. 

If  the  Mongol  yoke  has  influenced  the  Russian  development, 
it  is  very  indirectly,  i.  In  separating  Russia  from  the  West,  in 
making  her  a  political  dependency  of  Asia,  it  perpetuated  in  the 
country  that  Byzantine  half  civilization  whose  inferiority  to 
European  civilization  became  daily  more  obvious.  If  the  Rus- 
sians of  the  17th  century  differ  so  much  from  Western  nations,  it 
•  is  above  all  because  they  have  remained  at  the  point  whence  all 
set  out.  2.  The  Tatar  conquest  also  favored  indirectly  the  es- 
tablishment of  absolute  power.  The  Muscovite  princes,  respon- 
sible to  the  Khan  for  the  public  tranquillity  and  the  collection  of 
the  tax,  being  all  the  while  watched  and  supported  by  the  baskaks, 
could  the  more  easily  annihilate  the  independence  of  the  towns, 
the  resistance  of  the  second  order  of  princes,  the  turbulence  of 
the  boyards,  and  the  privileges  of  the  free  peasants.  The 
Grand  Prince  of  Moscow  had  no  consideration  for  his  subjects 
because  no  man  had  any  consideration  for  him,  and  be- 
cause his  life  was  always  at  stake.  The  Mongol  tyranny  bore 
with  a  frightful  weight  on  all  the  Russian  hierarchy,  and  sub- 
jected more  closely  the  nobles  to  the  princes,  and  the  peasants  to 
the  nobles.  "  The  princes  of  Moscow,"  says  Karamsin,  "  took 
the  humble    title  of  servants   of  the  khans,  and  it   was  by  this 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


129 


means  that  they  became  powerful  monarchs."  No  doubt  the 
Russian  principalities  would  always  have  ended  by  losing  their. 
selves  in  the  same  dominion,  but  Russian  unity  would  have  been 
made,  like  French  unily,  without  the  entire  destruction  of  local 
autonomies,  the  privileges  of  ilie  towns,  and  the  rights  of  the 
subjects.  It  was  the  crushing  weight  of  the  Mongol  domination 
that  slilied  all  the  germs  of  political  liberty.  We  may  say  with 
Mr.  Wallace,  that  "  the  first  Tzars  of  Muscovy  were  the  political 
descendants,  not  of  the  Russian  princes,  but  of  the  Tatar  khans." 
3.  A  third  indirect  result  of  the  conquest  was  the  growth  of  the 
power  and  riches  of  the  Church.  In  spite  of  the  saintly  legends 
about  the  martyrdom  of  certain  princes,  the  Tatars  were  a  toler- 
ant nation.  Rubruquis  saw  in  the  presence  of  the  Grand  Klian 
Mangou,  Nestorians,  Mussulmans,  and  Shamans  celebrating 
their  own  particular  worships. 

Kouiouk  had  a  Christian  chapel  near  his  palace  ;  Khoubilai 
regularly  took  part  in  the  feast  of  Easter.  In  1261  the  Khan  of 
Sarai  authorized  the  erection  of  a  church  and  orthodox  bishopric 
in  his  capital.  The  Mongols  had  no  sectarian  hatred  against 
bishops  and  priests.  With  a  sure  political  instinct,  the  Tatars, 
like  tlie  Sultans  of  Stamboul,  understood  that  these  men  could 
agitate  or  calm  the  people.  After  the  first  fury  of  the  conquest 
was  passed,  they  applied  themselves  to  gaining  them  over. 
They  exce]')ted  priests  and  monks  from  the  capitation-tax  ;  they 
recei\'ed  them  well  at  the  Horde,  and  gave  pardons  at  their  in- 
tercession. They  settled  disputes  of  orthodox  prelates,  and  es- 
tablished the  peace  in  the  Church  that  they  imposed  on  the 
State.  In  13 13  the  Khan  Uzbeck,  at  the  prayer  of  Peter,  Met- 
ropolitan of  Moscow,  confirmed  the  privileges  of  the  Church 
and  forbade  her  being  deprived  of  her  goods,  "  for,"  says  the 
edict,  "these  possessions  are  sacred,  because  they  belong  to 
men  whose  prayers  preserve  our  lives  and  strengthen  our  armies." 
The  right  of  justice  in  the  Church  was  formally  recognized. 
Sacrilege  was  punished  by  death. 

The  convents  also  increased  in  numbers  and  riches.  They 
filled  enormously  :  were  they  not  the  safest  asylums  ?  Their  peas- 
ants and  servants  multiplied  :  was  not  the  protection  of  the  Church 
the  surest  ?  Gifts  of  land  were  showered  on  them,  as  in  France  in 
the  year  1000.  It  was  thus  that  the  great  ecclesiastical  patri- 
mony of  Russia,  a  wealthy  reservoir  of  revenues  and  capital, 
was  constituted,  on  which  more  than  once  in  national  crises  the 
Russian  sovereigns  were  glad  to  draw.  The  Church,  which, 
even  in  her  weakness,  had  steadily  tended  to  unity  and  autoc- 
racy, was  to  place  at  the  service  of  the  crown  a  power  which 
had  become  enormous.  The  Metropolitans  of  Aloscow  were 
nearly  always  the  faithful  allies  of  the  Grand  Princes. 


l»^  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA, 


CHAPTER    XI. 

THE   LITHUANIANS:    CONQUEST   OF  WESTERN   RUSSIA  (1240-1430) 

The  Lithuanians— Conquests  of  Mindvog  (1240-1263),  of  Gedimin  (1315- 
1340),  and  of  Olgerd  (i345-i377)—Jagellon— Union  of  Lithuania  with  Po. 
land  (1386)— The  Grand  Prince  Vitovt  (1392-1430)— Battles  of  the  Vorskla 
(1399),  and  of  Tannenberg  (1410). 


THE     LITHUANIANS CONQUESTS     OF      MINDVOG      (124O-1263),     OF 

GEDIMIN    (1315-I340),    AND    OF    OLGERD    (l345-I377)- 

The  Lithuanian  tribes  had  already  been  greatly  broken  up 
by  the  German  conquest,  Russians,  Korsi,  Semigalli,  and  Letts 
had  been  brought  into  subjection  either  by  the  Teutonic  or 
Livonian  knights.  Two  among  the  tribes,  the  Jmouds  and  the 
Lithuanians  properly  so  called,  had  preserved  in  the  deep  forests 
and  marshes  of  the  Niemen  their  proud  independence,  their  fero- 
city, and  their  ancient  gods.  A  Russian  tradition  affirms  that 
they  formerly  had  paid  the  Russians  the  only  tribute  their  poverty 
could  afford — bark  and  brooms.  Jmouds  and  Lithuanians  were 
divided,  like  the  ancient  Slavs,  into  rival  and  jealous  tribes.  Al- 
though more  than  once  they  marched  from  their  forests,  blowing 
long  trumpets,  careering  on  rough  ponies — though  they  had 
made  many  incursions  into  the  Russian  territory — they  were 
not  really  dangerous.  This  old  Aryan  people,  whom  European 
influences  had  never  modified,  had  preserved  from  the  time  they 
dwelt  in  Asia  a  powerful  sacerdotal  caste, — the  va'idclotes  above 
whom  were  the  krivites,  whose  chief,  the  krive-kriveito,  was  high- 
priest  of  the  nation.  Their  principal  divinity  was  Perkun,  the 
god  of  thunder,  analogous  to  the  Perun  of  the  Russians.  The 
sacred  fire,  the  zniic/i,  burned  constantly  before  this  idol.  They 
had  also  priestesses,  the  wild  Velledas,  like  that  Birouta  who, 
captured  by  Kestout,  became  the  mother  of  the  great  Vitovt. 
The  lime  had  come  when  the  Lithuanians  must  perish  like  the 
Prussians  or  Letts,  if  they  did  not  succeed  in  uniting  against 
Germany.  The  emigrants  from  the  countries  already  conquered 
would  doubtless  lend  them  new  strength  and  energy.     A  wily 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


«5i 


barbarian,  Mindvog,  created  Lithuanian  unity  at  the  beginning 
of  the  13th  century  in  much  the  same  way  as  Clovis — by  ex- 
terminating the  princes.  "He  began,"  says  a  chronicle,  "by 
slaying  his  brothers  and  his  sons,  chased  the  survivors  from  the 
country,  and  reigned  alone  over  the  land  of  Lithuania."  Thence 
he  led  his  savage  warriors  against  the  Russian  principalities, 
now  enfeebled  by  the  Mongol  invasions,  and  conquered  Grodno 
and  Novogrodek.  Happily  Western  Russia  had  two  great  men 
at  its  head,  Alexander  Nevski  and  Daniel  of  Volhynia.  'I'hreat- 
ened  on  one  side  by  these  princes,  on  the  other  by  the  knights 
of  Livonia,  the  Lithuanians  bethought  themselves  of  hastening 
to  the  Pope  and  embracing  the  Catholic  faith.  A  legate  of  In- 
nocent IV.  and  the  lam/mcister  of  the  Teutonic  Order  came  to 
Grodno,  escorted  by  a  brilliant  suite  of  cavaliers.  In  presence 
of  an  immense  concourse  of  people,  Mindvog  received  baptisni 
with  his  wife,  and  was  consecrated  King  of  Lithuania  (1252). 
The  danger  passed,  and  Rome  was  forgotten.  He  and  his  new 
co-reliirionists  did  not  asfree,  and  he  was  forced  to  cede  the 
Jmoud  country  to  the  Livonian  knights.  Sharing  the  irritation 
of  his  subjects,  he  washed  off  his  baptism  as  the  unfortunate 
Livonians  had  done,  re-established  paganism,  invaded  Mazovia, 
ravaged  the  lands  of  the  Order,  and  defeated  the  landnieister  in 
person.  He  had  taken  the  wife  of  one  of  his  princes  named 
Dovmont,  and  had  married  her.  Dovmont  awaited  him  on 
the  road,  and  assassinated  him  (1263),  and  then  fled  from 
the  vengeance  of  Mindvog's  son  to  the  Pskovians.  He 
became  their  prince,  was  baptized,  and  defended  them 
bravely  against  his  pagan  compatriots  till  he  died,  and 
was  buried  at  the  church  of  the  Trinity.  Voichel,  son  of 
Mindvog,  in  the  first  fervor  of  an  ephemeral  Christianity,  had 
become  a  monk.  When  he  heard  of  the  murder  of  his  father,  he 
threw  his  cowl  to  the  winds,  and  began  a  war  of  extermination 
with  the  confederates.  Lithuania  fell  back  into  anarchy  during 
the  contest  of  the  descendants  of  Mindvog  with  the  rest  of  the 
princes  who  refused  to  accept  their  supremacy. 

She  recovered  herself  under  the  enterprising  and  energetic 
Gedimin  (13 15-1340),  the  real  founder  of  her  power.  He 
turned  the  exhaustion  and  divisions  of  South  Russia  to  his  own 
profit ;  and  to  the  conquests  of  his  predecessors — Grodno, 
Pinsk,  Brest,  and  Polotsk — soon  added  Tchernigof,  and  all 
Volhvnia  with  Vladimir,  under  whose  walls  he  defeated  the 
Russians,  aided  though  they  were  by  an  auxiliary  army  of  Ta- 
tars (132 1).  As  to  Kief,  it  is  not  known  in  what  year  she  fell 
under  his  power;  in  the  universal  disorder,  this  memorable 
event  passed  almost  unnoticed.     The  old  capital  of  Russia  was, 


J  -  2  fflS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA. 

however,  destined  to  remain  for  400  years — up  to  the  time  of 
Alexis  Romanof — in  the  hands  of  strangers.  The  Russian  pop- 
ulations willingly  received  this  new  master,  who  would  free 
them  from  the  heavy  yoke  of  the  Mongols  and  the  unceasing 
civil  wars.  As  he  respected  their  internal  constitution  and  the 
rights  of  the  orthodox  clergy,  it  appears  that  many  towns  readily 
opened  their  gates  to  him.  'Gedimin  sought  to  legalize  his  con- 
quests by  contracting  alliances  with  the  house  of  St.  Vladimir, 
allowed  his  sons  to  embrace  the  orthodox  faith,  and  authorized 
the  construction  of  Greek  churches  in  his  residences  at  Wilna 
and  Novogrodek.  In  the  North  he  had  a  perpetual  struggle  to 
sustain  against  the  deadly  enemies  of  his  race,  the  military 
monks  of  Prussia  and  Livonia.  Like  Mindvog,  he  addressed 
himself  to  the  Pope,  John  XXIL,  and  informed  him  that  he 
wished  to  preserve  his  independence,  that  he  only  asked  pro- 
tection for  his  religion,  that  he  was  surrounded  by  Fran- 
ciscans and  Dominicans  to  whom  he  gave  full  liberty  to 
teach  their  doctrine,  and  that  he  was  ready  to  recognize  the 
Pope  as  supreme  head  of  the  Church,  if  he  would  arrest  the  dep- 
redations of  the  Germans.  The  French  Pope  sent  him  Bar- 
tholomew, Bishop  of  Alais,  and  Bernard,  Abbot  of  Buy.  In  the 
interval  he  had  been  exasperated  by  renewed  attacks  of  the 
Teutonic  knights,  and  forced  the  two  legates  to  fly.  He  had 
transferred  his  capital  to  Wilna  on  the  Wilia,  and  the  ruins  of 
his  castle  may  still  be  perceived  on  the  height  which  overlooks 
the  citadel.  He  drew  thither  by  immunities  German  artists  and 
artisans,  and  granted  them  the  rights  of  Riga  and  the 
Hanseatic  towns.  A  Russian  quarter  was  also  formed  in 
his  capital.  He  died  and  was  buried  according  to  the  pagan 
rite  :  his  body  was  burned  in  a  caldron  with  his  war-horse  and 
his  favorite  groom. 

After  his  death  his  sons  Olgerd  (i34S-i377)  ^^'^^  Kestout  de- 
prived  two  of  their  brothers  of  their  appanages,  and  together 
,,overned  Lithuania,  now  re-united  into  a  single  State.  Olgerd 
"humiliated  Novgorod  the  Great,  which  had  received  another  of 
his  fugitive  brothers,  ravaged  her  territory,  and  forced  her  to 
put  to  death  the  possadnik  who  had  been  the  cause  of  the  war. 
He  extended  his  possessions  to  the  east  and  south,  and  con- 
quered Vitepsk,  Mohilef,  Briansk,  Novgorod-Severski,  Kamenetz 
and  Podolia  ;  thus  rendering  himself  master  of  nearly  all  the 
basin  of  the  Dnieper,  and  obtaining  a  footing  on  the  coast  of 
tiie  Black  Sea,  between  the  mouths  of  the  Dnieper  and  the 
Dniester.  With  the  republic  of  Pskof  he  maintained  relations 
sometimes  friendly,  someiimes  hostile  ;  gave  her  help  against 
the  Germans,  and  sent  his  son  Andrew  to  govern  her,  and  oc- 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


«33 


rasionally  arrested  her  merchants  and  laid  waste  her  territory. 
The  Poles  disputed  Volhynia  with  him,  oppressed  the  orthodox 
faith,  and  changed  the  Greek  into  Latin  churches.  Olgerd  then 
made  advancesio  Simeon  the  Proud,  Grand  Prince  of  Moscow, 
and,  though  a  pagan,  married  Juliana,  princess  of  Tver,  Under 
Simeon's  successors  the  Lithuanian  army  three  times  took  the 
road  to  Moscow,  and,  without  tlie  check  imposed  on  him  by  the 
Poles  and  the  two  German  orders,  Olgerd  might  have  made  the 
conquest  of  Eastern  Russia.  In  1368  he  had  annihilated  the 
Mongol  hordes  which  infested  the  Lower  Dnieper,  and,  more 
destructive  than  even  these  barbarians,  completed  the  ruin  of 
Cherson  in  the  Crimea. 

JAGELLON — UNION    OF    LITHUANIA   AND   POLAND   (1386). 

Although  Olgerd  had  reconstituted  the  Lithuanian  unity,  he 
fell  back  into  the  old  error,  and  divided  his  States  between  his 
sons  and  his  brother,  the  brave  Kestout,  who  had  been  his  faith- 
ful associate.  One  of  his  sons,  lagailo  or  Jagc/hn  (1377-1434), 
cruelly  repaired  the  fault  of  his  father.  He  made  his  uncle 
Kestout  prisoner  by  treachery,  and  caused  him  to  be  put  to 
death.  His  brothers  and  cousins  escaped  a  similar  fate  by  fly- 
ing to  neighboring  states.  In  spite  of  this  the  bloody  pagan 
was  the  Apostle  of  Lithuania.  For  a  long  while  Christianity 
had  sought  to  penetrate  by  two  different  channels, — under  the 
Latin  form  from  Poland,  and  under  the  Greek  form  from  Russia. 
The  fierce  war  sustained  by  the  Lithuanians  against  the  military 
monks  of  the  North  had  rendered  Catholicism  particularly  hate- 
ful to  them.  Under  Olgerd  the  people  of  Wilna  had  risen,  and 
fourteen  Franciscans  were  slain.  On  the  other  side  the  larger 
part  of  the  Lithuanian  conquests  was  composed  of  Russian  ter- 
ritory, and  Lithuania  underwent  the  influence  of  the  Russian 
religion  as  well  as  of  the  Russian  language.  Russian  became 
the  official  tongue  ;  it  even  seemed  as  if  orthodoxy  was  to  be- 
come the  ruling  faith,  and  the  victors  were  to  be  absorbed  by 
the  vanquished,  and  Russified  by  their  conquest.  An  unexpected 
event  turned  the  natural  course  of  history.  The  Angevin  and 
French  dynasty  in  Poland  had  lately  been  extinguished  in  the 
person  of  Louis  of  Hungary,  whose  only  heir  was  his  daughter 
Hedwiga.  The  Polish  nobles  felt  that  the  best  way  of  putting 
a  stop  to  the  eternal  warfare  with  the  Lithuanians  was  by  marry- 
ing their  queen  to  the  powerful  Prince  of  Wilna.  The  heart  of 
Hedwiga  is  said  to  have  been  elsewhere  engaged ;  but  the 
Catholic  clergy  set  forth  her  consent  to  this  union  as  a  duty,  tba 


134 


ITISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


fulfilment  of  which  was  to  insure  in  Lithuania  proper  the  triumph 
of  the  Latin  faith,  and  thus  to  separate  it  from  the  Lithuanian 
Russian  provinces  which  still  remained  orthodox. 

In  1386  Jagellon  went  to  Cracow  and  received  baptism  and 
the  crown  of  Poland, 

The  conversion  of  the  Lithuanians  was  then  conducted  after 
a  fashion  as  summary  as  that  of  the  Russians  in  the  time  of  Vladi- 
mir. They  were  divided  into  groups,  and  the  priest  then  sprin- 
kled them  with  holy  water,  pronouncing,  as  he  did  so,  a  name 
of  the  Latin  Calendar.  To  one  group  he  gave  the  name  of 
Peter,  to  another  that  of  Paul  or  John.  Jagellon  overthrew  the 
idol  Perkun,  extinguished  the  sacred  fire  that  burned  in  the  castle 
of  Wilna,  killed  the  holy  serpents,  and  cut  down  the  magic 
woods.  The  people,  however,  worshipped  their  gods  for  some 
time  longer;  like  the  Northmen  who  were  converted  by  the 
Carolingians,  many  Lithuanians  presented  themselves  more  than 
once  to  be  baptized,  in  order  to  receive  again  and  again  the 
white  tunic  of  the  neophyte.  By  transferring  his  capital  to 
Cracow,  in  deference  to  his  new  subjects,  Jagellon  necessarily 
irritated  his  old  subjects.  To  the  determined  pagans  the  ortho- 
dox allied  themselves,  provoked  by  the  king's  propaganda  in 
favor  of  Catholicism.  Lithuania  believed  that  by  her  union  with 
Poland  she  had  forfeited  her  independence. 


THE   GRAND    PRINCE   VITOVT   (1392-1430) — BATTLES   OF   THE 
VORSKLA  (1399),  AND    OF    TANNENBERG    (1410). 

Vitovt,  son  of  the  hero  Kestout  and  the  priestess  Birouta, 
put  himself  at  the  head  of  the  malcontents.  He  allied  himself 
with  the  Teutonic  knights,  and  twice  besieged  the  Polish  garri- 
son in  the  Castle  of  Wilna.  Weary  of  war,  Jagellon  ended  by 
ceding  him  Lithuania  with  the  title  of  Grand  Prince  (1392). 

Vitovt  (1392-1430).  brother-in-law  of  the  Grand  Prince  of 
Moscow  (Vassili  Dmitrie'vitch),  took  up  the  plans  of  Olgerd  for 
the  subjugation  of  the  north-east  of  Russia.  Sviatoslaf,  the  last 
prince  but  one  of  Smolensk,  had  made  himself  hated,  even  in 
that  iron  centurv,  by  his  cruelties.  Fighting  in  the  Russian  ter- 
ritory, he  took  pleasure  in  impaling  and  burning  alive  women 
and  children.  He  was  killed  in  1387  in  a  battle  against  the 
Lithuanians,  and  his  son  loury  was  only  the  shadow  of  a  Grand 
Prince  of  Smolensk,  under  the  guardianship  of  Vitovt.  The 
latter,  who  combined  perfidy  with  the  courage  and  energy  of  his 
father,  made  himself  master  of  the  town  by  a  stratagem  worthy 
of  Caesar  Borgia.     He  contrived  to  induce  the  prince  and  his 


HISrOR  Y  OF  R USSTA.  , 35 

brothers  to  visit  him  in  his  tent,  embraced  and  pressed  them  in 
his  arms,  and  then  declared  them  prisoners  of  war,  while  his 
army  surprised  and  pillaged  Smolensk.  This  queenly  city  on 
the  Upper  Dneiper  was  lost  to  Russia.  The  Lithuanian  Em- 
|)ire  now  bordered  on  the  ancient  Souzdal  and  the  principality 
of  Riazan.  These  two  countries,  with  Novgorod  and  Pskof, 
were  the  only  ones  which  had  preserved  their  independence. 
It  seemed  as  if  one  campaign  would  suffice  to  annihilate  the 
Russian  name.  But  Viiovt  cherished  great  projects,  in  which 
the  conquest  of  Moscow  was  only  an  incident.  He  had  already 
fought  against  the  Mongols,  and  with  the  prisoners  taken  in  the 
environs  of  Azof,  had  peopled  many  villages  round  Wilna,  where 
their  posterity  still  exist.  He  took  under  his  protection  the 
Khan  Tokhtamych,  whom  Timour  Koutloui  had  expelled  from 
Sarai,  and  resolved  to  subjugate  the  Golden  Horde,  to  instal  a 
vassal  there,  and  finally  add  to  the  conquest  of  the  Tatar  Em- 
pire that  of  Moscow  and  Riazan.  The  army  that  he  assembled 
under  the  walls  of  Kief  was  perhaps  the  most  important  that 
had  marched  against  the  infidels  since  the  first  crusade.  To 
his  Lithuanian  troops  he  had  united  the  Polish  contingent  sent 
bv  Jagellon  under  the  famous  vo'ievodes  Spitko  of  Cracow,  John 
of  Mazovia,  Sandivog  of  Ostorog,  Dobrogost  of  Samotoul,  and  the 
droiijiiias  of  the  Russian  princes,  Gleb  of  Smolensk,  Michael 
and  Dmitri  of  Volhynia,  the  Mongols  of  Tokhtamych,  and  five 
hundred  knights,  "iron  men,"  richly  armed,  sent  by  the  Grand 
Master  of  the  Teutonic  Order.  He  came  up  with  the  enemy 
on  the  banks  of  the  Vorskla,  an  affluent  of  the  Dnieper,  that 
runs  near  Pultowa.  It  was  almost  the  battle-field  where  fought 
in  1709  the  heroes  of  the  North.  To  Timour's  proposals  of 
peace,  Vitovt  answered  that  God  had  designed  him  to  be  mas- 
ter of  the  world,  and  that  the  Khan  must  recognize  him  as 
his  father,  pay  him  tribute,  and  jilace  his  armorial  bearings  on 
the  Mongol  coins.  The  Khan  only  negotiated  to  gain  time 
till  the  bulk  of  the  Tatar  army,  commanded  by  Ediger,  came 
up.  Ediger,  in  his  turn,  ironically  summoned  Vitovt  to  ac- 
knowledge him  as  father,  and  to  place  his  arms  on  the  Lithu- 
anian coins.  Vitovt,  who  hoped  to  make  up  for  his  deficiency 
in  numbers  by  his  artillerv,  gave  the  signal  for  battle.  A 
manoeuvre  of  the  Tatars  on  the  rear  *f  the  enemy  assured 
them  the  victory.  Two-thirds  of  the  Lithuanian  army,  with 
the  princes  of  Smolensk  and  Volhynia,  remained  on  the  field 
of  battle.  The  remnant  was  pursued  by  Timour  to  the  Dnieper. 
He  levied  war  contributions  on  Kief  and  the  Monastery  of 
the  Catacombs  (1399).  So  fell  the  prestige  of  Vitovt.  Even 
the   princes  of  Riazan  thought    that   they  might  safely  iusull 


,36  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

his  frontiers.  But  he  was  still  formidable,  and  the  Grand  Princft 
of  Moscow,  after  having  tried  to  attack  him,  judged  it  more 
prudent  to  make  peace. 

When  Vitovt  began  to  recover  from  his  disaster,  he  directed 
a  still  more  famous  expedition  against  the  Teutonic  knights. 
'I'he  Grand  Prince  of  Lithuania  had  more  than  once  found 
himself  at  issue  with  the  two  German  orders.  About  this  time 
the  Teutonic  knights  had  lost  their  early  energy,  thanks  to  the 
development  of  the  system  of  fiefs,  and  to  the  progress  of  the 
commercial  towns.  In  1409  the  Jmouds  and  Oriental  Prussia, 
after  having  protested  against  the  severity  of  the  yoke  imposed 
on  them,  revolted,  counting  on  Vitovt  to  support  them.  A  new 
Grand  Master,  the  warlike  Ulrich  of  Jungingen,  refused  the 
mediation  of  Vitovt's  suzerain,  the  King  of  Poland.  Upon  this 
the  united  forces  of  Poland  and  Lithuania,  with  40,000  Tatars 
and  21,000  Bohemian,  Hungarian,  Moravian  and  Silesian  mer- 
cenaries, making  a  total  of  97,000  infantry,  66,000  cavalry,  and 
60  cannons,  entered  Prussia.  The  Grand  Master  had  only  57,- 
000  infantry  and  26,000  cavalry,  with  which  to  oppose  them. 
The  battle  of  Tannenberg  (1410),  gained  chiefly  by  Vitovt,  who 
broke  the  German  centre  and  left  w'ing,  was  a  blow  from  which 
the  power  of  the  Teutonic  Order  never  recovered.  The  Grand 
Master  and  nearly  all  the  high  dignitaries,  200  Knights  of  the 
Order,  and  400  foreign  knights,  besides  4000  soldiers,  were 
killed.  Nearly  all  the  princes  of  Western  Russia  took  part  in 
the  combat,  and  the  contingent  of  Smolensk  especially  distin- 
guished itself.  The  Jmoud  country  was  freed  from  the  Teutonic 
rule  and  united  to  Lithuania. 

Three  years  afterwards  (1413)  the  Congress  of  Horodlo  on 
the  Bug,  between  Jagellon,  accompanied  by  the  Polish /(?;/j',  and 
Vitovt,  accompanied  by  his  Lithuanian  chiefs,  took  place.  It 
was  settled  that  the  Lithuanian  Catholics  should  receive  the 
rights  and  privileges  of  the  Polish  schliaclita ;  and  that  the 
representatives  of  the  two  countries  should  unite  in  a  common 
diet  to  elect  the  Kin^s  of  Poland  and  the  Grand  Dukes  of 
Lithuania,  and  decide  important  affairs.  Vitovt  soon  had  dif- 
ferences with  his  own  subjects :  the  Jmouds,  so  refractory  under 
the  Teutonic  rule,  were  pagans  and  Lithuanians  at  heart.  They 
hated  Catholicism  and  the  Polish  domination.  They  rose  and 
expelled  the  monks.     Vitovt  could  only  govern  them  by  force. 

The  Russian  provinces  of  Lithuania  were  orthodox,  and  de- 
pended upon  the  Metropolitan  of  Moscow.  Vitovt  wished  to 
shake  off  his  religious  supremacy,  and  demanded  of  the  Patriarch 
of  Constantinople  a  special  metropolitan  for  Western  Russia, 
In  spite  of  the  Patriarch's  refusal,   he  convoked   a  council  of 


mS  TOR  V  OF  H  USSIA.  ,  ,_ 

si  • 

orthodox  prelates  :  a  learned  Bulgarian  monk,  Gregory  Tsrni- 
blak,  was  elected  Metropolitan  of  Kief.  Thus  Ru.ssia  had  two 
religious  chiefs,  as  she  had  two  Grand  Princes — the  Metropolitan 
of  Eastern  Russia,  and  the  Metropolitan  of  Western  Russia; 
one  at  Moscow,  the  other  at  Kief.  Vitovt  also  wished  to  free 
himself  on  the  western  side,  and  deprive  Poland  of  her  suprem- 
acy over  Lithuania.  In  1429  he  had  an  interview  with  the 
Emperor  Sigismond,  who  promised  to  create  him  King  of 
Lithuania.  Vitovt,  then  eighty  years  of  age,  was  at  the  height 
of  his  power.  We  see  him  at  the  fetes  of  Troki  and  Wilna,  at- 
tended by  his  grandson  Vassili  Vassilidvitch,  Grand  Prince  of 
Moscow,  who  was  accompanied  by  the  Muscovite  Metropolitan 
Photius,  the  Princes  of  Tver  and  Riazan,  Jagellon,  king  of  Poland, 
the  Khan  of  the  Crimea,  the  exiled  Hospodar  of  Wallachia,  the 
Grand  Master  of  Prussia,  the  Landmeister  of  Livonia,  and  the 
ambassadors  of  the  Emperor  of  the  East.  Daily  were  700  oxen, 
1400  sheep,  and  game  in  proportion,  consumed.  In  the  midst 
oi  these  fetes  the  ambitious  old  man  had  to  swallow  a  bitter 
draught.  The  Poles  had  intrigued  with  the  Pope,  and  he  was 
forbidden  to  dream  of  royalty.  The  ambassadors  of  Sigismond 
were  checked  as  they  were  bringing  him  the  sceptre  and  the 
crown.     Vitovt  fell  ill,  and  died  of  disappointment  (1430). 

After  this  Lithuania  ceased  to  be  formidable.  We  find  it  in 
turns  governed  by  a  (}rand  Duke  of  its  own,  united  to  Poland 
under  Vladislas,  separated  again,  then  definitely  placed  under 
the  Polish  sceptre  from  1501.  Though  henceforward  it  always 
had  the  same  sovereign  as  Poland,  it  remained  a  State  apart — 
the  Grand  Principality  or  Grand  Duchy  of  Lithuania.  Her 
Lithuanian  and  Russian  provinces  became  steadily  Polish,  and 
the  princely  descendants  of  Rurik  and  St.  Vladimir,  or  of 
Mindvog  and  Gedimin,  assumed  the  manners  and  language  of 
the  Polish  aristocracy. 


138  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  GRAND    PRINCES     OF   MOSCOW  :   ORGANIZATION    OF     EASTER! 

RUSSIA   (1303-1462). 

Origin  of  Moscow — Daniel — George  Danielovitch  (1303-1325)  and  Ivan  Kalita 
(i328-i34r) — Contest  withi  the  liouse  of  Tver — Simeon  the  I'roud  and 
Ivan  the  Debonnaire  {1341-1359) — Dmitri  Donskoi' ( 1363-1389) — Battle  of 
Koulikovo — Vassili  Dmitrie'vitch  and  Vassili  the  Blind  (1389-1462). 


ORIGIN    OF    MOSCOW — DANIEL. 

Whilst  Western  Russia  grouped  herself  around  the  Lithu- 
anian State,  which  had  given  the  conquered  Russian  provinces 
a  new  capital  in  Wilna,  and  soon  involved  them  in  her  own 
union  with  Poland,  Eastern  Russia  grouped  herself  around 
Moscow.  When  this  double  concentration  on  the  Moskowa 
and  on  the  Wilna  should  be  accomplished,  Great  Russia,  proud 
of  her  national  and  religious  unity,  and  Lithuanian  Russia  (or 
rather  a  foreign  State  composed  of  the  Russian,  Lithuanian,  and 
Polish  races,  and  of  three  religions,  the  Greek,  Roman,  and 
Protestant,  besides  the  Jewish),  would  find  themselves  face  to 
face.  The  contest  of  these  two  sister-enemies  will  fill  many 
centuries  of  the  history  of  the  North.  To  other  sovereisrns,  in 
other  centuries,  will  fall  the  task  of  reconstituting  the  Russian 
unity  in  its  fullest  extent.  The  honor  of  the  princes  of  Mos- 
cow is  to  have  created  the  living  germ  which  became  Great 
Russia. 

Around  Moscow,  under  the  Mongol  yoke,  a  race  was  formed, 
patient  and  resigned,  yet  energetic  and  enterprising,  born  to 
endure  bad  fortune  and  profit  by  good,  which  in  the  long  run 
was  to  get  the  ujDper  hand  over  Western  Russia  and  Lithuania. 
There  a  dynasty  of  princes  grew,  politic  and  persevering,  pru- 
dent and  pitiless,  of  gloomy  and  terrible  mien,  whose  foreheads 
were  marked  by  the  seal  of  fatality.  They  were  the  founders  of 
the  Russian  empire,  as  the  Capetians  were  of  the  French  mon- 
archy. 

The  means  used  by  the  sovereigns  of  Russia  were   very 


HISTORY  OF  lU/SSfA  13^ 

different.  Here  we  shall  find  no  sympathetic  figures  like  that 
of  Louis  VI.  careering  proudly  in  the  narrow  domains  of  France, 
capturing  rebel  castles  in  the  face  of  the  sun — of  a  Louis  IX., 
true  mirror  of  chivalry,  the  noblest  incarnation  of  the  kingly 
ideal.  'I'he  princes  of  Moscow  gained  their  ends  by  intrigue, 
corruption,  tiie  purchase  of  consciences,  servility  to  the  khans, 
perfidy  to  their  equals,  murder,  and  treachery,  'i'hey  were  at 
once  the  tax-gatherers  and  the  police  of  the  khans.  But  they 
created  the  germ  of  the  Russian  monarchy,  and  made  it  grow. 
Henceforward  we  have  a  fixed  centre  around  which  gathers  that 
scattered  history  of  Russia  which  we  have  had  to  follow  in  so 
many  different  places — in  Novgorod  and  Pskof,  in  Livonia  and 
in  Lithuania,  at  Smolensk  and  in  Gallicia,  at  Tchernigof  and 
at  Kief,  at  Vladimir  and  at  Riazan.  The  mutilation  of  Russia, 
conquered  on  the  west  by  the  Lithuanians,  enslaved  on  the  east 
by  the  Mongols,  was  to  facilitate  the  work  of  organization.  In 
this  diminished  fatherland  the  sovereigns  of  Moscow  could  play 
more  easily  the  part  of  Grand  Princes. 

The  extent  of  country  which  had  by  the  middle  of  the  15th 
century  escaped  the  Lithuanian  conquest  was  very  small.  With- 
out counting  Smolensk,  whose  days  were  numbered,  there  re- 
mained the  following  principalities  : — i.  Riazan,  with  its  appan- 
ages of  Pronsk  and  Pert^iaslavl-Riazanski ;  2.  Souzdal,  with  the 
towns  of  Vladimir,  Nijni-Novgorod,  Souzdal,  Galitch  in  Souzdal, 
Kostroma,  and  Gorodetz  ;  3.  Tver,  situated  on  the  Upper  Volga, 
and  chiefly  made  up  of  bailiwicks  taken  from  Novgorod  by  the 
Grand  Princes  of  Souzdal,  with  the  towns  of  Rjef,  Kachine,  and 
Zoubtsof ;  4.  Moscow,  shut  in  on  the  north  bv  Tver,  on  the  east 
by  Souzdal,  on  the  south  by  Riazan,  nearly  stifled  by  its  power- 
ful neighbors,  like  the  France  of  the  Capetians  between  the 
formidable  States  of  English  Normandy,  Flanders,  and  Cham- 
pagne. 

The  name  of  Moscow  appears  for  the  first  time  in  the  chron- 
icles at  the  date  of  1 147.  It  is  there  said  that  the  Grand  Prince 
George  Dolgorouki,  having  arrived  on  the  domain  of  a  boyard 
named  Stephen  Koutchko,  caused  him  to  be  put  to  death  on 
some  pretext,  and  that,  struck  by  the  position  of  one  of  the 
villages  situated  on  a  height  washed  by  the  Moskowa,  the  very 
spot  wliereon  the  Kremlin  now  stands,  he  built  the  city  of  Mos- 
cow. In  the  Capitol  of  ancient  Rome  the  founder,  Romulus,  dis- 
covered the  head  of  a  man  ;  the  Capitol  of  Moscow,  destined  to 
become  the  centre  of  an  empire,  was  sprinkled  in  its  beginning 
by  human  blood.  The  name  of  a  still-existing  church,  "  St. 
Saviour  of  the  Pines  "  {Spass  na  Boroti).  preserves  the  memory 
of  the  thick  forests  that  then  clothed  both  banks  of  the  Moskowa, 


1  40  HISTOR  V  OF  J? USSIA. 

on  the  space  now  covered  by  an  immense  capital.  Durino;  the 
century  following  its  foundation,  Moscow  remained  an  ob.sture 
and  insignificant  village  of  Souzdal.  The  chroniclers  do  not 
allude  to  it  except  to  mention  that  it  was  burned  by  the  Tatars 
(1237J,  or  that  a  brother  of  Alexander  Nevski,  Michael  of  Mos- 
cow, was  killed  there  in  a  battle  with  the  Lithuanians.  The  real 
founder  of  the  principality  of  the  name  was  Daniel,  a  son  of 
Alexander  Nevski,  who  had  received  this  small  town  and  a  few 
villages  as  his  appanage.  He  increased  his  State  by  an  impor- 
tant town,  Pereiaslavl-Zaliesski,  that  belonged  to  one  of  his 
nephews,  and  by  the  addition  of  Kolomna,  which  he  took  from 
the  Riazanese.  At  his  death  in  1303  he  was  the  first  to  be 
buried  in  the  church  of  Saint  Michael  the  Archangel,  which 
till  the  time  of  Peter  the  Great  remained  the  burying-place  of 
the  Russian  princes.  He  was  followed,  in  due  course,  by  his 
brothers  George  and  Ivan. 


GEORGE    DANIELOVITCH     (1303-1325)    AND    IVAN     KALITA    (1328- 
I341) — STRUGGLE   WITH   THE   HOUSE   OF    TVER. 

The  first  act  of  George  Danielovitch  (1303-1325)  was  to  capt- 
ure Mojaisk  from  the  Prince  of  Smolensk,  and  to  take  the  latter 
prisoner.  Almost  at  the  same  time  began  the  bloody  struggle 
with  the  house  of  Tver,  which,  transmitted  from  father  to  son. 
lasted  for  eighty  years.  When  Andrew  Alexandrovitch,  Grand 
Prince  of  Souzdal,  died  in  1304,  two  competitors  presented 
themselves — Michael  of  Tver,  cousin-german  of  the  deceased, 
and  his  nephew  George  of  Moscow.  The  claim  of  Michael  was 
incontestable  ;  was  he  not  the  chlcst  oi  the  family  ?  The  boyards 
of  Vladimir  and  the  citizens  of  Novgorod  did  not  hesitate  to 
acknowledge  him  as  Grand  Prince  ;  at  Sarai  Tokhta  the  khan 
declared  in  his  favor,  and  ordered  him  to  be  installed.  Michael, 
who  had  on  his  side  the  national  law  and  the  sovereign  will  of 
the  Mongols,  could  also  use  force  ;  he  twice  besieged  Moscow, 
and  obliged  the  son  of  Daniel  to  leave  him  in  peace.  In  this 
young  man  he  had  an  implacable  enemy.  The  chronicles,  in- 
dignant at  the  revolt  of  George  against  the  old  hereditary  cus- 
tom, unanimously  pronounced  against  him.  While  making  due 
allowance  for  their  efforts  to  blacken  his  character,  we  cannot 
help  seeing  that  he  was  not  a  man  to  shrink  from  any  crime. 
His  father  had  taken  the  Prince  of  Riazan  prisoner.  He  had 
him  assassinated  in  his  dungeon,  and  would  have  taken  posses- 
sion of  his  territorie.s,  if  the  Khan  had  not  ordered  the  rights  of 
the  young  heir  to  be  respected.     Then  George  caused  himself  to 


HIS  TOR  V  OF  H  USS/A.  1 4  , 

be  recognized  as  Prince  of  Novgorod,  to  the  prejudice  of 
Michael,  but  the  army  of  Tver  and  Vhidiniir  defeated  that  fur- 
nished him  by  the  republic.  An  unexpected  event  suddenly 
changed  the  face  of  things.  The  Khan  Tokhta  died  ;  George 
managed  to  gain  the  good  graces  of  his  successor  Uzbeck,  so 
that  the  latter  gave  him  his  sister  Lontchaka  in  marriage,  and, 
reversing  the  decision  of  Tokhta,  adjudged  him  the  grand  princi- 
pality. The  son  of  Daniel  returned  to  Russia  with  a  Mongol 
army,  commanded  by  the  Ixiskak  Kavgadi.  Michael  consented, 
say  the  chronicles,  to  cede  Vladimir,  if  his  hereditary  appanage 
were  respected ;  but  George  began  to  lay  waste  the  country  of 
Tver,  and  war  was  inevitable.  Michael  triumphed  completely. 
The  Tatar  wife  of  George,  his  brother  Boris,  the  Mongol  general 
Kavgadi,  and  nearly  all  the  otlficers  of  the  Khan,  fell  into  his 
hands.  Michael  covered  his  prisoners  with  attentions  dictated 
by  prudence.  Kavgadi,  released  with  honor,  swore  to  be  his 
friend,  but,  as  the  sister  of  the  Khan  died,  the  enemies  of  the 
Prince  of  Tver  set  on  foot  a  report  that  he  had  poisoned  her. 
The  cause  of  the  two  princes  was  carried  before  the  tribunal  of 
the  Khan.  Whilst  the  indefatigable  Muscovite  went  in  person, 
with  his  hands  full  of  presents,  to  the  Horde,  Michael  had  the 
imprudence  to  send  his  son,  a  boy  of  twelve  years  old,  in  his 
place.  Finding  George  was  occupied  in  accusing,  intriguing, 
and  corrupting,  Michael  at  last  made  up  his  mind  to  follow  him. 
Not  unprepared  for  the  lot  that  awaited  him,  he  made  his  will, 
and  distributed  appanages  among  his  children.  He  was  accused 
of  having  drawn  his  sword  against  a  baskak^  envoy  of  the  Khan, 
and  of  having  poisoned  Kontchaka.  These  accusations  were  so 
manifestly  absurd,  that  Uzbeck  deferred  judgment.  This,  how- 
ever, did  not  meet  George's  views,  and,  by  means  of  intrigues, 
he  obtained  the  arrest  of  his  kinsman.  The  Khan  now  set  out 
for  some  months'  hunting  in  the  Caucasus.  Michael  was  dragged 
in  the  train  of  the  court,  loaded  with  irons,  from  the  Sarai  to 
Dediakof  in  Daghestan.  One  day  he  was  put  in  the  pillory  in 
the  market  of  a  thickly-poimlated  town,  and  the  spectators 
crowded  to  see  him,  saying,  "  This  prisoner  was,  a  short  time  ago, 
a  powerful  prince  in  his  own  country."  The  boyards  of  Michael 
had  told  him  to  escape;  he  refused,  not  wishing  his  people  to 
suffer  for  him.  George  was  so  energetic,  and  scattered  about  so 
much  money,  that,  finally,  the  death-warrant  was  signed.  One 
of  Michael's  pages  entered  the  tent  which  served  him  as  a  pri- 
son, in  great  alarm,  to  tell  him  that  George  and  Kavgadi  were 
approaching,  followed  by  a  multitude  of  people.  "  I  know  the 
reason,"  replied  the  prince  ;  and  he  sent  his  young  son  Constan- 
tine  to  one  of  the  Khan's  wives,  who  had  promised  to  take  him 


142 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


under  her  protection.  His  two  enemies  took  their  stand  near 
his  tent,  dismissed  the  boyards  of  Tver,  and  sent  their  hired 
ruffians  to  assassinate  the  prince.  They  threw  him  down,  and 
trampled  liim  under  their  feet.  As  in  the  case  of  Michael  of 
Tchernigof,  it  was  not  a  Mongol  that  stabbed  him  and  tore  out 
his  heart,  but  a  renegade  named  Romanetz.  When  George  and 
Kavgadi  entered  and  contemplated  the  naked  corpse,  "  What," 
said  the  Tatar,  "  will  vou  allow  the  bodv  of  vour  uncle  to  be  out- 
raged  ?  "  One  of  George's  servants  threw  a  mantle  over  the 
victim  (1319).  Michael  was  bewailed  by  the  Tverians.  His 
body,  incorruptible  as  that  of  a  martyr,  was  afterwards  deposited 
in  a  silver  bier  in  the  cathedral  of  Tv'er.  He  became  a  saint, 
and  the  patron  of  his  city.  On  tlie  walls  of  the  cathedral, 
ancient  and  mwdern  pictures  recall  his  martvrdom,  and  condemn 
the  crime  of  the  Muscovite.  All  the  contemporary  chronicles 
warmly  take  his  part  against  the  assassin.  Karamsin  has  made 
himself  the  echo  of  their  apologies  and  curses.  But  at  the  same 
time  that  Michael  became  a  saint,  George  became  the  all-power- 
ful sovereign  of  Moscow,  Souzdal,  and  Novgorod.  The  tragic 
fate  of  Michael  foretold  the  ruin  of  Tver. 

Some  years  afterwards,  things  were  reversed  at  the  Horde. 
Dmitri  of  the  terrible  eyes,  son  of  the  unhappy  Michael,  obtained 
the  title  of  Grand  Prince,  and  the  baskak  Seventch  Bonga  was 
charged  to  place  him  on  the  throne  of  Vladimir.  George  found 
himself  obliged  to  go  again  to  Sarai  ;  there  the  two  rivals,  Dmitri 
of  Tver  and  George  of  Moscow,  met.  Dmitri  had  his  father  to 
avenge ;  his  sword  leaped  from  the  scabbard,  and  the  Prince  of 
Moscow  fell  mortally  wounded  (1325),  All  that  his  friends 
could  obtain  was  that  Dmitri  should  be  put  to  death.  The 
latter  was  succeeded  in  Vladimir  by  his  brother  Alexan- 
der. 

Unluckily  for  the  house  of  Tver,  the  following  year  the  Tver- 
ians, exasperated  by  the  baskak  Ciievl<al,  rose  in  rebellion  and 
murdered  him  and  all  his  suite.  Alexander,  instead  of  imitating 
the  firm  prudence  of  his  Muscovite  neighbors,  allowed  himsell 
to  be  carried  away  by  the  popular  passion.  It  was  he  who  as- 
saulted the  palace  of  the  baskak,  and  lighted  the  fire.  After 
such  an  action,  he  had  no  pity  to  expect  from  the  Khan  ;  and  if 
Uzbeck  could  have  forgotten  the  insult  to  his  majesty,  the  princes 
of  Moscow  would  have  kept  him  in  mind  of  it.  The  brother  of 
George,  Ivan  Kalita,  offered  to  complete  the  ruin  of  Tver.  Uz- 
beck  promised  him  the  title  of  Grand  Prince,  and  gave  him  an 
army  of  50,000  Tatars,  to  whom  were  joined  the  contingents  of 
Moscow  and  Souzdal.  Alexander,  who  had  not  had  the  wisdom 
to  resist  his  people,  had  likewise  not  the  courage  to  defend  them 


HISTOR  V  OF  RUSSIA.  I^^ 

and  die  with  them.  lie  fled  with  liis  brothers,  to  Pskof  and  T.adou;a. 
Pitiless  was  the  vengeance  of  tlie  Khan,  and  tlie  vengeance  of 
Moscow.  Tver,  Kachine,  and  Torjok  were  sacked.  Novgorod 
had  to  buv  herself  off  bv  a  war  indemnity.  Not  content  with  exter- 
minating  the  Tverians,  Uzbeck  put  to  death  at  the  same  time  the 
Prince  of  Riazan,  son  of  that  Prince  laroslaf  whom  George  Daniel- 
ovitch  had  murdered  in  prison.  The  Horde  and  Moscow  seemed 
to  have  the  same  enemies — they  struck  in  concert.  It  is  remark- 
able that  it  was  in  the  blood  of  the  martyrs  Michael  of  Tver 
and  Dmitri  "  with  the  terrible  eyes,"  that  "  holy  Russia  '"'  came 
to  her  growth. 

Ivan  Kalita  (1328-1341)  became  Grand  Prince,  and  made 
the  journey  to  the  Horde  with  Constantine,  son  of  Michael, 
who  had  replaced  the  fugitive  Alexander  on  the  throne  of  Tver. 
Ivan  was  well  received,  but  Uzbeck  commanded  him  to  make 
Alexander  appear  before  him.  The  ambassadors  of  the  Grand 
Prince  went  to  Pskof,  to  conjure  Alexander  to  appear,  or  to  sum- 
mon the  Pskovian-s  to  deliver  him  up.  "  Do  not  expose,"  they 
said,  "  a  Christian  people  to  the  wrath  of  the  infidels."  But 
the  Pskovians,  touched  by  the  prayers  of  the  Prince  of  Tver,  re- 
plied, "  Do  not  go  to  the  Horde,  my  lord  ;  whatever  happens, 
we  will  die  with  thee."  As  magnanimous  as  the  Novgorodians  at 
the  time  of  Alexander  Nevski,  as  heroically  absurd,  they  ordered 
the  ambassadors  to  be  gone,  took  up  arms,  and  built  a  new  fort- 
ress near  Izborsk.  Ivan  assembled  an  army  and  persuaded  the 
Metropolitan  Theognostus  to  place  Alexander  and  the  Pskov- 
ians under  an  interdict.  Thus  men  saw  a  Christian  prince  perse- 
cute one  of  his  kinsmen  by  order  of  the  Tatars,  and  a  metropolitan 
excommunicate  the  Christians  to  force  them  to  obey  the  Khan. 
The  Pskovians,  though  alarmed,  would  not  yield  an  inch  ;  but 
Alexander  left  them  and  took  refuge  in  Lithuania.  Then  they 
said  to  the  Grand  Prince,  "  Alexander  is  gone  ;  all  Pskof  swears 
it,  from  the  smallest  to  the  greatest,  popes,  monks,  nuns, 
orphans,  women,  and  children  "  (1329). 

Alexander  afterwards  returned,  and  was  again  recognized 
bv  them  as  their  prince,  but  still  regretted  his  good  city  of  Tver. 
The  protection  of  the  Lithuanian  (icdiniin  was  too  dangerous 
and  too  burdensome.  Alexander  thought  it  would  be  easier  to 
bend  the  terrible  Uzbeck.  He  went  to  the  Horde  with  his  boy- 
ards,  "  Lord,  all-powerful  Tzar,"  he  said  to  Uzbeck,  "  if  I  have 
done  anything  against  you,  I  have  come  hither  to  receive  of  you 
life  or  death.  Do  as  God  inspires  you  ;  I  am  ready  for  either." 
The  Khan  pardoned  him,  and  Alexander  returned  to  Tver. 
Ivan  Kalita  had  hoped  he  had  forever  got  rid  of  him.  In  Alex- 
ander's absence  he  was  the  master  of  Russia,  had  interfered  in 


1 44  HISTOR  Y  OF  RUSSIA. 

the  affairs  of  Tver,  married  one  of  his  daughters  to  Vladimir  of 
laroblavl  and  another  to  Constantine  of  Rostof,  brother  of  the 
banished  prince.  The  return  of  Alexander  gave  a  chief  to  those 
who  were  discontented  with  Ivan.  Instead  of  declaring  war, 
Ivan  preferred  to  resort  to  his  ordinary  means.  He  flew  to  the 
Horde,  and  there  represented  Alexander  as  the  most  dangerous 
enemy  of  the  Mongols.  In  consequence  of  these  insinuations, 
Alexander  was  summoned  before  the  Khan  ;  this  time  he  was 
beheaded,  with  his  son  Feodor.  The  rivalry  with  Moscow  had 
already  cost  four  princes  of  the  house  of  Tver  their  lives.  L'z- 
beck  who  had  only  confidence  in  Moscow,  and  who  wished  to 
govern  the  rest  of  Russia  by  terror,  about  this  time  put  the 
Prince  of  Starodoub  to  death.  The  princes  Constantine  and 
Vassili  of  Tver,  sons,  brothers,  and  uncles  of  the  victims,  felt 
that  they  could  only  maintain  themselves  by  obedience  to  their 
terrible  father-in-law.  As  a  proof  of  submission  they  sent  to 
Kalita  the  great  bell  of  the  cathedral  of  Tver.  The  princes  of 
Riazan  and  Souzdal  were  also  obliged  to  fight  under  his  stand- 
ards. Novgorod,  threatened  by  him,  began  the  course  which 
afterwards  proved  so  fatal  to  her,  and  might  have  proved  the 
ruin  of  Russia  ;  she  allied  herself  with  Lithuania,  accepted  as 
prince,  Narimond,  a  son  of  Gedimin,  and  gave  him  the  Novgo- 
rodian  possessions  in  Ingria  and  Carelia,  as  hereditary  appanages. 
She  tried  also  to  make  friends  with  the  Grand  Prince  of  Mos- 
cow, but  Ivan  only  desired  to  restrict  her  liberties,  and  exacted, 
in  the  name  of  the  Khan,  a  double  capitation-tax. 

This  unwarlike  prince,  at  the  same  time  as  he  strengthened 
his  supremacy,  acquired  by  purchase  the  towns  of  Ouglitch, 
Galitch,  Bielozersk,  and  lands  in  the  neighborhoods  of  Kostroma, 
Vladimir,  and  Rostof.  He  was  at  once  Prince  of  Moscow  and 
Grand  Prince  of  Vladimir  ;  but  Moscow  was  his  inheritance,  of 
which  he  could  not  legally  be  despoiled  by  the  Khan,  while 
Vladimir  could  be  given  to  another  house.  It  was  thus  that  in 
Germany  the  archduchy  of  Austria  was  hereditary,  whilst  tiie 
imperial  crown  might  legally  pass  to  another  family.  It  may 
therefore  be  imagined  how  Kalita  chose  to  sacrifice  Vladimir  to 
Moscow,  as  the  Hapsburgs  sacrificed  Frankfort  to  Vienna. 
His  Tv^erian  rivals,  the  two  grand  princes,  his  predecessors,  had 
acted  in  the  same  way.  Michael  and  Dmitri  of  Tver  had  hardly 
appeared  at  Vladimir,  except  to  be  crowned  in  the  cathedral. 
They  lived  habitually  in  their  appanage  towns,  one  at  Tver,  the 
othcV  at  Perdinslavl.  Under  Kalita,  Vladimir  remained  tlie 
legal  capital  of  Russia  ;  Moscow  was  the  real  capital,  and  Kalita 
was  working  to  make  her  the  capital  de  jure  as  well  as  de facto. 
The  Metropolitan  of  Vladimir,  Peter,  who  had  an  affection  for 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


I4S 


Moscow,  often  resided  there.  His  successor,  Theognostus, 
established  himself  there  coiiipletcly.  Then  the  religious  su- 
premacy which  had  first  belonged  to  Kief,  and  next  to  Vladimir, 
passed  to  Moscow.  Kalita  did  his  best  to  give  it  the  prestige 
of  a  metropolis.  He  buili  magnificent  churches  in  the  Kremlin, 
among  others  that  of  the  Assumption,  the  Ouspinisid  sobor. 
The  first  Metropolitans  of  Moscow,  thanks  to  him  and  his  suc- 
cessors, were  beatified.  St.  Alexis  and  St.  Peter  are  reckoned 
anvMig  the  patron-saints  of  Russia.  It  is  related  that  the 
Metropolitan  Peter  himself  marked  out  the  place  of  his  tomb  in 
the  new  church,  and  that  he  said  to  Ivan,  "  God  will  bless  thee, 
and  elevate  thee  above  all  the  other  princes,  and  raise  this  town 
above  all  other  towns.  Thy  race  will  reign  in  this  place  during 
many  centuries;  their  hands  will  conquer  all  their  enemies  ;  the 
saints  will  make  their  dwelling  here,  and  here  shall  my  bones 
repose." 

What  made  the  chief  glory  of  Kief  the  ancient  metropolis 
was  the  famous  Petcherski  monastery,  with  its  holy  catacombs 
and  the  tombs  of  so  many  ascetics  and  wonder-workers.  Mos- 
cow had  also  her  heritage  of  virtues  and  glorious  austerity. 
Under  Kalita's  successor,  not  far  from  the  capital,  in  a  deep 
forest,  where  he  had  at  first  no  companion  but  a  bear,  on  water- 
courses which  were  haunted  only  by  the  beavers,  St.  Sergius 
founded  the  Troi'tsa  monastery  (the  7>7////r),  which  became  one 
of  the  richest  and  most  venerated  of  Eastern  Russia.  On  its 
increase  of  wealth,  it  was  obliged  to  be  surrounded  with  ram- 
parts ;  and  its  thick  brick  walls  with  a  triple  row  of  embrasures, 
its  nine  war-towers,  and  its  still  existing  fortifications,  were 
afterwards  destined  to  brave  the  assaults  of  Catholics  and  infi- 
dels. The  princes  of  Moscow,  in  spite  of  their  perfidious  and 
pitiless  policy,  were  as  pious  as  good  King  Robert — devots, 
alms-givers,  indefatigable  in  building  churches  and  monasteries, 
in  honoring  the  clergy,  and  in  helping  the  poor.  The  surname 
of  Kalita  given  to  Ivan  comes  from  the  kalUa  or  alms-bag  he 
wore  always  at  his  girdle.  This  kalita  may  also  have  been  Shy- 
iock's  purse — the  bag  of  a  prince  who  was  farmer-general  and 
usurer  who  demanded  from  Novgorod  double  what  he  intended 
to  pay  on  her  behalf  to  Uzbeck.  Ivan  liked  to  converse  with 
the  monks  in  his  Convent  of  the  Transfiguration.  Like  all  the 
other  princes  of  the  house,  he  took  care,  when  at  the  point  of 
death,  to  be  tonsured  and  adopt  the  religious  dress  and  a  new 
name. 

If  the  princes  of  Moscow  labored  with  fierce  energy  to  bind 
together  the  Russian  soil,  they  continued  to  divide  it  into  ap- 
panages among  their  sons.     Many  causes  contributed  to  prevent 


1 46  ins  TO K  V  OF  R  USSIA. 

the  return  of  the  former  anarchy.  These  princes,  as  a  rule,  had 
few  sons ;  they  grackially  got  into  the  way  of  giving  only  very 
weak  appanages  to  the  younger  ones,  and  these  on  condition  of 
an  absolute  dependence  on  the  eldest.  Ivan,  for  example,  had 
only  three  sons ;  he  gave  by  far  the  larger  share  (MojaTsk  and 
Kolomna)  to  Simeon,  and  forbade  Moscow  to  be  divided.  The 
idea  of  the  State  as  one  and  indivisible  was  certain  to  end  by 
gaining  the  day. 

SIMEON    THE    PROUD    AND     IVAN     THE     DEBONNAIRE     (134I-I359). 

Simeon   the   Proud   (1341-1353)  and   Ivan    II.    (1353-1359) 
succeeded  one  after  the  other  their  father   Kalita.     They  were 
all  three   contemporaries   of   the   early  Valois.     At  the  news  of 
the  death  of  Ivan,  many  princes  at  once  disputed  the  throne  of 
Vladimir  with  his  sons,     Constantine  of   Tver,  and  Constantine 
of  Souzdal,  especially,  were  supported  by  the  oiher  princes  who 
did  not  desire  the  title  of  Grand   Prince   to   be  perpetuated  in 
the  house  of  Moscow.     They  went   to   the   Horde  at  the  same 
time  as   Simeon    and  his    two    sons    travelled  thither.     Simeon 
owed  his  success  neither  to  his  eloquence  nor  his  arguments,  but 
to  the  treasure  of  his  father,  which  won  over  the  infidels.     After 
being  crowned  in  the  Cathedral  of  Vladimir,  he  swore  to  live  in 
harmony  with  his  two  brothers,  and  exacted  from  them  the  same 
oath.     While  pushing  his  submission  to  the   Khan  to  the  verge 
of  baseness,  he  domineered   over  the   Russian  princes  with  a 
haughtiness  that  gained  for  him  the   surname  of   "  the  Proud." 
He  forced   Novgorod   to   pay   him   a  contribution,   and,  in   his 
capacity  of  supreme  head  of  Russia,  confirmed  the  liberties  of 
the  republic.     He  was  the  first  who  assumed  the  title  of  "  Grand 
Prince   of   all    the   Russias,"   which    was    little   justified  by  the 
facts,  as  in  1341  Olgerd  of  Lithuania  besieged  the  town  of  Mo- 
jaisk,  Simeon's   own   appanage.     The   friendship  of   St.  Alexis, 
third  Metropolitan  of  Moscow,  gave   him   great   moral    aid.     In 
his  reign  Boris,  a  Russian  artist,  cast  bells  for  the  cathedrals  of 
Moscow  and   Novgorod  ;  three   churches  of   the   Kremlin  were 
adorned  with  new  paintings — that  of  the  Assuinption,  by  Greek 
artists  ;  that  of  St.  Michael,  by  the  Court  painters  ;  that  of  the 
Transfigiimtion,  by  a  foreigner  named  Goiten.     Paper  replaced 
parchment:  and  it  was  on  paper  that  Simeon's  will  was  written. 
Russia  then  still  maintained  her  old  relations  with  Byzantium, 
and  entered   into  new   ones  with   Europe.     Simeon  died  of  the 
famous   "  black   death  "  or  "  black  pestilence,"  which  at  this 
time  desolated  the  West. 

Ivan  II.,  brother  and  successor  of  "the  Proud,"  deserves, 


HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA.  ,  ^ 

on  the  contrary,  the  surname  of  "  the  D^bonnaire."  He  was  of 
a  dilferent  type  from  the  sinister  princes  of  Souzdal,  and  was 
pacific  and  gentle.  The  anarchy  into  which  Russia  fell  during^ 
!he  six  years  of  his  reign,  shows  how  little  his  virtues  were  those 
of  his  century.  Witliout  attempting  to  avenge  himself,  Ivan 
permitted  Olcg  of  Riazan  to  insult  his  territory,  burn  his  villages 
of  the  Lopasnia,  and  ill-treat  his  lieutenant.  lie  allowed  the 
No\gorodians  to  despise  his  authority  and  obey  Constantine  ot 
Souzdal  ;  he  let  the  Grand  Uuke  Olgerd  occupy  Rjef,  and  An- 
drew of  Lithuania  menace  Pskof.  He  interfered  neither  in  the 
civil  wars  of  the  princes  of  Riazan,  nor  in  those  of  the  princi- 
pality of  Tver,  nor  in  the  troubles  excited  at  Novgorod  bv  the 
rivalry  of  the  Slavonian  quarters  and  that  of  St.  Sophia,  nor  in 
the  storm  raised  in  the  Church  by  the  Patriarch  of  Constanti- 
nople, \vho  dared  to  consecrate  metropolitan  a  rival  of  St. 
Alexis.  The  murder  of  one  of  his  officers,  Alexis,  military  gov- 
ernor of  Moscow,  remained  unpunished.  In  this  weakness  of 
the  prince,  the  churchmen  naturally  came  to  the  front,  and  took 
up  the  part  abandoned  by  him.  Moses,  Archbishop  of  Nov- 
gorod, quelled  a  revolt  in  the  republic ;  St.  Alexis  reconciled 
the  princes  of  Tver,  and  acquired,  by  a  miraculous  cure,  great 
power  in  the  Horde,  by  which  he  profited  to  protect  his  people 
and  his  prince.  At  the  death  of  Ivan  II.,  the  title  of  Grand 
Prince,  which  his  three  predecessors  had  made  such  efforts  to 
perpetuate  in  the  house  of  Moscow,  passed  to  that  of  Souzdal. 
Dmitri  of  Souzdal  (1359-1362),  furnished  with  the  iarlikh,  made 
his  solemn  entry  into  Vladimir.  It  was  again  St.  Alexis  who 
saved  the  supremacy  of  Moscow.  After  having  blessed  the 
Grand  Prince  in  Vladimir,  he  returned  to  his  care  of  the  young 
children  of  Ivan  II.,  and  to  Moscow,  which  had  for  a  moment 
ceased  to  be  the  capital.  It  was  by  his  counsel  that  Dmitri 
Tvanovitch,  at  the  age  of  twelve,  dared  to  declare  himself  the 
rival  of  Dmitri  of  Souzdal,  and  determined  to  appeal  to  the  tri- 
bunal of  the  Khan.  The  Golden  Horde  was  then  a  prey  to 
civil  wars;  the  ferocious  Mamai  harassed  Mourout,  but  as  the 
latter  reigned  at  Sarai,  and  seemed  the  legitimate  successor  of 
Bati,  it  was  to  him  that  the  Souzdalian  and  Muscovite  bovards 
addressed  themselves.  Mourout  adjudged  the  Grand  Principal- 
ity to  the  grandson  of  Kalita,  whom  a  Muscovite  army  led  to  be 
consecrated  in  Vladunir. 

DMITRI    DONSKOI    (1363-I389) — THE    liATTLE    OF   KOULIKOVO, 

Dmitri  Ivanovitch  (1363-1389)  is  distinguished   from  nearly 
a]1  the  Souzdal  princes  by  a  warlike  and  chivalrous  character 


1 48  HISTOK  Y  OF  R LiSIA. 

worthy  of  the  West.  He  proves  that  the  Russian  soul  had  been 
only  repressed,  not  rendered  depraved  and  servile  by  the  Tatar 
yoke,  and  that  Slav  chivalry  only  awaited  an  opportunity  to 
raise  the  cry  of  war,  and  make  their  swords  flash  like  the  prcux 
chevaliers  of  Louis  IX.  or  of  John  the  Good.  Dmitri  had  at 
once  to  sustain  a  series  of  wars  against  the  neighboring  princes  ; 
notably  against  Dmitri  of  Souzdal,  Michael  of  l\-er,  and  Oleg 
of  Riazan.  As  changes  took  place  at  the  Horde,  Dmitri  of 
Souzdal  obtained  from  the  Khan  Mourout  a  reversal  of  his  first 
decision,  and  returned  to  Vladimir.  The  Prince  of  Moscow, 
who  feared  this  feeble  Khan  no  longer,  did  not  hesitate  to  take 
up  arms,  and  to  expel  his  rival  from  Vladimir.  A  treaty  was 
agreed  on  between  them.  The  Souzdalian  appanage  of  Nijni- 
Novgorod  having  become  vacant,  Dmitri  supported  his  ancient 
enemy  against  his  competitor  Boris.  Like  his  grandfather 
Kalita,  who  had  caused  Novgorod  to  be  excommunicated, 
Dmitri  Ivanovitch  entreated  St.  Sergius,  the  founder  of  the 
Troitsa  Monastery,  to  lay  Nijni-Novgorod  under  an  interdict. 
Then  Boris  yielded,  and  Dmitri  of  Souzdal,  now  Prince  of  Nijni- 
Novgorod,  gave  the  Prince  of  Moscow  his  daughter  Eudoxia  in 
marriage,  and  henceforward  remained  his  friend.  Dmitri  Ivan- 
ovitch deprived  the  rebel  princes  of  Starodoub  and  Galitch  of 
their  appanages,  and  forced  Constantine  Borissovitch  to  recog- 
nize his  supremacy.  He  made,  under  the  guarantee  of  St. 
Alexis,  a  treaty  with  his  cousin,  Vladimir  Andrievitch,  by  which 
he  undertook  to  hand  over  to  him  the  appanage  that  Kalita  had 
secured  to  his  father,  and  by  which  Vladimir  engaged  to  ac- 
knowledge him  as  his  father  and  his  Grand  Prince.  Vladimir 
kept  his  word,  and  was  always  the  bravest  lieutenant  and  the 
right  arm  of  Dmitri. 

The  struggle  now  recommenced  with  the  house  of  Tver. 
Michael  Alexandrovitch,  whose  father  had  been  killed  at  the 
Horde,  disputed  the  throne  with  one  of  his  uncles.  The  Grand 
Prince  and  the  Metropolitan  of  Moscow  took  the  part  of  the 
latter.  Michael  paid  no  attention  to  this  decision,  took  Tver 
with  a  Lithuanian  army,  besieged  his  uncle  in  Kachine,  and 
obliged  him  to  renounce  his  claims.  He  then  took  the  title  of 
Grand  Prince  of  Tver.  It  was  chieflv  the  alliance  with  Olirerd, 
the  husband  of  his  sister  Juliana,  that  rendered  him  formid- 
able. Thrice — in  1368,  in  1371,  and  in  1372 — Olgerd  conducted 
his  brother-in-law,  burning  and  pillaging  on  his  way,  up  to  the 
walls  of  the  Kremlin  on  Moscow.  Neither  the  Lithuanian  nor 
the  Muscovite  army  on  any  of  these  occasions  fought  a  decisive 
battle.  The  boyards  of  l^milri  felt  that  a  lost  battle  would  be 
the  ruin  of  Russia  j  while  Olgerd  was  too  old  and  experienced  to 


.^m^rVR  Y  OF  R  USSIA .  1 49 

Stake  all  on  a  hazard.  At  last,  in  1375,  after  the  death  of  his 
brother-in-law,  Michael  found  himself  besieged  in  Tver  by  the 
united  forces  of  all  the  vassals  and  allies  of  Dmitri  and  of  the 
Novgorodians  who  had  the  sack  of  Torjok  and  the  devastation 
of  their  territory  to  avenge.  Reduced  to  extremities,  and  aban- 
doned by  Lithuania,  he  was  constrained  to  sign  a  treaty  by 
which  he'engaged  to  regard  Dmitri  as  his  "  elder  brother,"  to 
renounce  all  claim  to  Novgorod  and  Vladimir,  not  to  disquiet  the 
allies  of  Moscow,  and  to  imitate  Dmitri's  conduct  towards  the 
Tatars,  whether  he  continued  to  pay  tribute  or  he  declared  war. 

Another  enemy,  not  less  dangerous,  was  Oleg  of  Riazan,  who 
had  formerly  braved  Ivan  the  De'bonnaire.  In  137 1,  the  Mus- 
covites defeated  Oleg,  and  installed  a  prince  of  Pronsk  in  his 
capital,  who  was  not,  however,  strong  enough  to  maintain  his 
position.  If  Tver  was  sometimes  supported  by  Lithuania, 
Riazan  had  often  the  Horde' as  an  ally. 

The  empire  of  Kiptchak  was  gradually  falling  to  pieces.  Many 
competitors  disputed  the   throne   of  Sarai.     The   Tatars  acted 
after    their  kind,  and  invaded    the   Russian   territory    in  disor- 
derlv  style.     It  is   true  it  was    no  longer  a   point   of  honor  with 
the  Christian   princes  to  submit  to  them.     Oleg  of  Riazan  him- 
self united  with  the  princes  of  Pronsk  ami  Kozelsk,    and  dctitd 
the  mourza  Tagai,  who  had  burnt  Riazan.       Dmitri  of  Souzdal, 
])rince  of  Nijni-Novgorod,    had   defeated    Boulat-Temir,  who  on 
his  return  to  the  Horde   had  been  disavowed   and  put  to  death. 
Finallv,  Dmitri  of  Moscow  had  many  times  disobeyed  the  terri- 
ble Mamai.      He  had,  however,  the  courage  to  answer  to  the 
summons  of  the  Khan,    and  the   good  fortune  or  the  cleverness 
to  return  to  Moscow  safe  and    well  (137 1).      In    1376    Dmitri 
sent  a  great  expedition  against  Kazan  by  the  Volga,  and  forced 
two  Tatar  princes  to  pay  tribute.     Conflicts  multiplied  between 
the  Christians  and  the  infidels.      In  this  manner  the  princes  of 
Souzdal  exterminated  a  band  of  Mordvians,   and  delivered  up 
their  chiefs  to  be  torn  in   pieces   by  the  dogs  of  Novgorod  ;  in 
return,  Mamai  ordered  the  town  to  be  burnt.     In   1378,  Dmitri 
of  Moscow    gained    a    brilliant  victory    over    the    lieutenant  of 
Mamai  on  the  banks  of  the  Voja  in  Riazan.       In  the  first  intox- 
ication of  victory,  he   cried,  "  Their  time   is  past,   and  God  is 
with  us  !  "     The'  Khan,  in  his  blind  fury,   caused   his  anger  to 
fall  on  Oleg  of  Riazan,  the  rival  of  Dmitri  Ivanovitch,  who  fled, 
abandoning  his  lands  to  the  ravages  of  the  enemy. 

It  took  Mamai  two  years  to  mature  his  plans  of  vengeance, 
and  he  assembled  in  silence  an  immense  host  of  Tatars,  Turks, 
Polovtsi,  Tcherkesses,  lasses,  and  Bourtanians  or  Caucasian 
Jews.     Even  the  Genoese  of  Kaffa,  settled  in  the  Crimea  and 


150 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


on  the  territory  of  the  Khan,  furnished  a  contingent.  In  these 
critical  circumstances  for  Russia,  Oleg  of  Riazan,  forgetting  his 
grievances  against  the  Tatars,  and  only  remembering  his  mistrust 
and  jealousy  of  Moscow,  betrayed  the  common  cause.  While 
keeping  on  good  terms  with  Dmitri,  even  while  warning  him  of 
what  was  preparing,  he  secretly  negotiated  an  alliance  between 
the  two  most  formidable  enemies  of  Russia — Jagellon  of  Lithu- 
ania and  Mama'i.  The  Grand  Prince's  army  would  probably  be 
crushed  between  them  ;  but  Dmitri  did  not  lose  heart.  The 
desire  of  vengeance  awakened  in  the  Russians  with  the  force  of 
religious  enthusiasm.  At  the  call  of  the  Grand  Prince,  the 
princes  of  Rostof,  Bielozersk,  laroslavl,  Starodoub,  and  Kachine, 
with  their  droi/Jinas  ;  the  boyards  of  Vladimir,  Nijni-Novgorod, 
Souzdal,  Pereiaslavl-Zaliesski,  Kostroma,  Mourom,  Dmitrof, 
Mojaisk,  Zvenigorod,  Ouglitch,  and  Serpoukhof,  at  the  head  of 
their  contingents,  successively  made  their  entrance  into  the 
Kremlin,  amid  the  acclamations  of  the  Muscovites.  At  Kostroma 
Dmitri  was  to  be  joined  by  two  Lithuanian  princes — Andrew 
and  Dmitri — who  brought  him  troops  from  Pskof  and  Briansk. 
The  grand  Prince,  with  his  cousin  Vladimir,  went  to  the  hermit- 
age of  Troitsa  to  ask  the  benediction  of  Saint  Sergius.  The 
latter  predicted  that  he  would  gain  the  victory,  but  that  it  would 
be  a  bloody  fight.  He  sent  two  of  his  monks,  Alexander  Peres- 
vet  and  Osliaba,  formerly  a  brave  boyard  of  Briansk,  to  accom- 
pany Dmitri.  On  their  cowls  he  made  the  sign  of  the  cross. 
"  Behold,"  he  cried,  "  a  weapon  which  faileih  never."  The 
Prince  of  Tver  had  taken  good  care  not  to  send  his  contingent, 
and  the  treason  of  the  Prince  of  Riazan  now  became  known. 
The  hearts  of  the  Russians  beat  with  joy  and  enthusiasm  at  the 
throught  of  revenge.  In  spite  of  private  jealousies,  the  princes 
were  animated  by  the  same  ardor  as  the  Spanish  kings  when 
they  marched  against  the  Moors,  or  the  companions  of  Godfrey 
of  I3ouillon  on  the  road  for  the  Holy  Land.  Never  had  such 
an  army  been  seen.      Dmitri  is  said  to  have  had  150,000  men. 

They  crossed  the  country  of  Riazan,  then  under  a  craven 
prince,  and  reached  the  banks  of  the  Don.  The  princes  de- 
bated as  to  whether  it  was  necessary  to  cross  the  river  immedi- 
ately;  but  it  was  urgent  to  dispose  of  the  Mongols  before  having 
on  their  hands  Jagellon,  who  had  already  arrived  at  Odocf, 
fifteen  leagues  off.  A  letter  which  Dmitri  received  from  Saint 
Sergius,  recommending  him  to  "  go  forwards,"  decided  ihe 
matter.  The  Don  was  crossed,  and  tliey  found  themselves  or. 
the  plain  of  Koulikovo  {the  Field  of  Woodcocks),  watered  by  the 
Nepriadva.  The  centre  was  occupied  by  the  princes  of  Lithiv 
ania  and  Smolensk,  with  the  droujina  of  Dmitri  ;  the  right  was 


UMITKI  Do.NSXoi. 


A<  ^fj^  Y  OP-  R USSIA,  1 5 , 

commanded  by  the  princes  of  Rostof  and  Starodoub,  the  left 
by  those  of  laroslavl  and  Vologda  ;  the  reserve  by  Prince 
VLadimir,  the  brave  Dmitri  of  Volhynia,  and  the  princes  of 
Briansk  and  Kachine,  The  Mongols  soon  came  up,  and  the 
battle  began.  It  was  bloody  and  dubious.  The  enemy  had 
already  cut  to  pieces  the  droujhia  of  the  Grand  Prince,  when 
Vladimir  and  IJmitri  of  Volhynia,  who  had  lain  in  ambush,  sud- 
denly attacked  the  Tatars,  Mamai,  from  the  top  of  a  koiirgan, 
contemplated  the  flight  of  his  army.  His  camp,  his  chariots, 
and  his  camels  were  all  captured.  The  Mongols  were  pursued 
to  the  Metcha,  in  which  many  drowned  themselves.  If  the 
barbarians  lost,  as  they  are  said  to  have  done,  100,000  men,  the 
Russian  loss  was  also  very  severe.  They  counted  among  the 
dead  the  two  monks  of  Saint  Sergius  ;  one  of  them,  Peresvet 
was  discovered  in  the  arms  of  a  Patzinak  giant,  who  had  fought, 
with  him  hand  to  hand,  and  perished  along  with  him.  For  a 
long  while  Dmitri  could  not  be  found ;  at  last  he  was  seen  in 
a  swoon,  his  armor  bloody  and  broken.  This  memorable  battle 
of  Koulikovo  has  been  related  in  more  than  one  way  by  tiie 
Russian  historians.  With  the  annalists,  i)roperly  so  called,  the 
official  historiographers  of  the  Grand  Prince,  Dmitri  is  the 
hero.  In  the  poetical  recitals  which  were  inspired  by  the  ac- 
count of  the  pope  Sophronius,  it  is  Saint  Sergius  who  at  each 
moment  supports  the  courage  of  Dmitri,  whom  they  represent 
with  rather  too  much  humility  for  ageneral-in-chief.  The  battle 
of  the  Don,  which  gained  for  Dmitri  the  surname  of  Donskoi, 
and  for  Vladimir  that  of  the  Brave,  is  as  celebrated  in  Russia 
as  that  of  Las  Navas  de  Tolosa  in  Spain.  It  showed  the  Rus- 
r^ians  that  they  could  vanquish  the  invincible  ;  and  the  Mongol 
yoke,  even  after  they  again  fell  under  it,  did  not  seem  in- 
evitable. Dmitri  had  heroically  broken  the  tradition  of  slavery  ; 
he  had  proclaimed  the  future  freedom  (1380). 

Unhappily  the  event  showed  the  advantages  of  the  policy 
of  resignation  over  the  policy  of  chivalry — of  the  patience  of  the 
hero  of  the  Neva  over  the  bravery  of  the  hero  of  the  Don.  A 
man  appeared  at  this  moment  at  the  head  of  the  Mongols,  who 
was  as  formidable  as  Genghis  Khan — Tamerlane,  the  conqueror 
of  the  two  Bokharas,  of  Hindostan,  of  Iran,  and  of  Asia  Minor. 
Tokhtamycii,  one  of  his  generals,  caused  Mama'i  to  be  put 
to  death,  and  announced  to  Dmitri  that  he  had  triumphed 
over  their  common  enemv ;  then  he  summoned  the  Russian 
princes  to  present  themselves  at  the  Horde.  Dmitri  refused. 
Was  it  in  vain  that  the  blood  of  the  Christians  had  flowed  at 
Koulikovo?  The  Khan  assembled  an  immense  army.  Dmitri 
found  no  longer  the  same  wisdom  or  energy  among  his  coun. 


J  ^  2  HTSTOR  Y  OF  R USSTA, 

cillors.     Not  knowing  what  to  do,  he  left  Moscow  and  went  to 

assemble  an  army  at  Kostroma.  Tokhtamych  marched  straight 
on  the  capital,  and  during  three  days  tried  to  carry  the  walls  of 
the  Kremlin  by  assault.  Then  he  had  recourse  to  a  ruse,  ^XiA 
affected  to  enter  in  a  negotiation.  At  last  the  Tatars  surprised 
the  gates,  and  delivered  up  Moscow  to  fire  and  sword.  A 
tolerably  exact  calculation  proves  that  24,000  men  perished, 
beside  the  precious  documents  and  earliest  archives  of  the  prin- 
cipality. 

Vladimir,  Mojaisk,  lourief,  and  other  towns  of  Souzdal  suf- 
fered the  same  fate.  When  Tokhtamych  had  retired,  Dmitri  came 
and  wept  over  the  ruins  of  his  capital.  "Our  fathers,"  he  cried, 
"  who  never  triumphed  over  the  Tatars,  were  less  unhappy  than 
we."  Bitter  morrow  of  victory !  However,  although  Russia 
had  to  resign  herself  to  her  Tatar  collectors,  she  felt  that  the 
Horde  would  never  recover  its  former  power. 

Dmitri  longed  at  least  to  revenge  himself  on  the  perfidious 
Oleg.  The  latter  escaped  him,  but  Riazan,  which  was  regarded 
as  a  harbor  for  traitors,  was  sacked.  Michaelof  Tver  merited 
the  same  chastisement ;  he  had  refused  to  fight  Mamai,  and  was 
one  of  the  first  to  fly  to  the  Horde  of  Tokhtamych.  The  war 
continued  with  Oleg  of  Riazan,  who  ravaged  the  territory  of 
Kolomna.  Saint  Sergius  again  intervened,  entreated  and  threat- 
ened Oleg,  and  finally  induced  him  to  conclude  a  "perpetual 
peace  "  with  Dmitri,  and  to  cement  it  by  the  marriage  of  his 
son  Feodor  with  Sophia,  daughter  of  Dmitri. 

The  Novgorod  adventurer's,  the  "  Good  Companions,''  hfyi 
about  this  time  committed  many  ravages  on  the  territories  of 
the  Grand  Principalities.  They  insulted  laroslavl  and  Kos- 
troma in  1371,  and  Kostroma  and  Nijni-Novgorod  in  1375.  pil- 
laging as  far  as  Sarai  and  Astrakhan,  sparing  neither  infidels 
nor  Christians.  Novgorod  continued  to  furnish  appanages  to 
the  Lithuanian  princes,  to  despise  the  political  authority  of  the 
Grand  Prince,  and  the  religious  supremacy  of  the  Metropolitan. 
Dmitri  marched  against  the  republic  with  the  contingents  of 
twenty-five  provinces.  Novgorod  had  to  pay  an  indemnity  for 
the  glorious  deeds  of  the  Good  Companions,  and  to  engage  to 
furnish  a  vearlv  tribute. 

When  i)mitri  died,  the  principality  of  Moscow  was  by  far  the 
most  considerable  of  the  States  of 'the  North-east,  since  it  ex- 
tended on  the  south  to  Kalouga  and  Kasimof,  and  included  on 
the  north-east  Bie'lozersk  and  Galitch.  As  to  Vladimir,  Dmitri, 
in  his  will,  calls  it  his  patrimony.  He  has  been  reproached  for 
having  limited  himself  to  the  sack  of  Tver  and  Riazan,  without 
hastening  their  final  annexation.     If  Dmitri  gave  appanages  to 


rr/STOfr-i-  of  a'Ussfa.  i^-j 

his  five  younger  sons,  he  at  least  established  the  principle  of  in> 
heritance  in  a  direct  line  instead  of  the  ancient  principle  of  col- 
lateral succession.  He  had  signed  a  treaty  with  his  cousin 
Vladimir,  by  which  the  latter  renounced  his  rights  as  "  eldest  ol 
the  family,"  engaging  to  consider  Vassili,  eldest  son  of  Dmitri, 
as  his  "  elder  brother."  In  the  reijrn  of  Donskoi  the  monk 
Stephen  founded  the  first  churcli  in  the  country  of  the  Permians, 
confuted  tlieir  priests  and  sorcerers,  overthrew  the  idols  of 
Volssel  and  the  Old  Golden  Woman  who  held  two  infants  in  her 
arms,  put  a  stop  to  the  sacrifice  of  reindeer,  built  schools,  and 
died  Bishop  of  Permia,  A  certain  Andrew,  probably  a  Genoese 
by  birth,  settled  on  the  Petchora.  Russia  entered  into  relations 
with  the  West  by  means  of  the  Genoese  of  Kaffa  and  Azof ;  coins 
of  silver  and  copper,  with  the  image  of  a  knight,  replaced  the 
konnes,  or  marten-skins.  About  1389  the  first  cannons  appeared 
in  the  Russian  army.  Moscow  continued  to  adorn  herself,  and 
the  monasteries  of  the  Miracle,  of  Andronii,  and  of  Simeon  were 
built. 


VASSILI    DMITRIEVITCH    AND   VASSILI    THE    BLIND   (1389-I465). 

Vassili  Dmitrievitch  (1389-1425),  the  contemporary  of  Charles 
VI.  of  France,  succeeded  his  father  without  opposition  as 
Grand  Prince  of  Moscow  and  Vladimir,  The  preponderance 
of  the  first  of  these  towns  over  the  second  became  more  and 
more  marked.  The  situation  of  both  was  equally  advantageous  ; 
the  one  on  the  Moskowa,  the  other  on  the  Kliazma,  aftiuents 
of  the  Oka.  Vladimir,  like  Moscow,  had  its  kremlin  on  a  high 
hill,  commanding  a  vast  extent  of  country.  Both  cities  were  in 
communication  with  the  great  Russian  artery,  the  Volga  ;  but 
were  far  enough  from  it  to  escape  the  piracies  of  the  Good  (Com- 
panions. Vladimir  had  been  in  other  respects  as  favored  as 
Moscow.  Andrew  Boglioubski  had  ornamented  the  former,  as 
Ivan  Kalita  had  embellished  the  second.  Vladimir,  to  which 
the  title  of  Grand  Principality  was  attached,  seemed  even 
better  fitted  than  Moscow  to  be  the  capital  of  Russia.  It  was 
almost  an  historical  accident  that  decided  in  favor  of  the  latter. 
At  the  present  day  Vladimir  is  merely  a  simple  seat  of  govern- 
ment with  a  population  of  14,000,  while  Moscow  is  a  metropolis 
with  600,000  souls. 

With  regard  to  Novgorod,  the  Grand  Prince  of  Moscow  be- 
gan to  look  upon  it  from  the  point  of  view  of  a  sovereign,  and 
called  the  city  "  his  patrimony."  The  Novgorodians  on  their  side 
appealed  to  the  charter  of  laroslaf  the  Great,  which  formally  con- 


»S4 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


ceded  them  the  right  to  choose  their  princes.  In  the  last  reigns 
they  had  been  accustomed  to  have  recourse  to  a  bargain.  The 
republicans  recognized  the  sovereign  of  Moscow  as  their  prince, 
if  the  latter  would  consent  to  certain  conditions, — the  final  hom- 
age rendered  to  the  ancient  Slav  freedom.  After  the  fall  of 
Alexander  of  Tver  (1328),  no  Russian  prince  could  compete  with 
the  house  of  Moscow  for  the  throne  of  Novgorod.  The  only 
possible  rivals  were  the  Grand  Princes  of  Lithuania.  Now  with 
Lithuania  it  was  not  only  a  competition  of  candidates,  but  it  was 
a  great  national  and  religious  question.  Moscow  would  prefer 
to  ruin  Novgorod  rather  than  allow  her  to  pass  into  the  hands 
of  the  most  dangerous  enemy  of  Russian  orthodoxy.  We  may 
say  that  after  1328  Novgorod  had  no  longer  a  special  prince, 
but  only  a  boyard  of  Moscow,  who  represented  the  Grand  Prince. 
The  power  of  the  latter  was  sometimes  exerted  with  vigor.  In 
1393  Novgorod  having  revolted  against  INIoscow,  Vassili  sent  in 
his  troops,  and  seventy  inhabitants  of  Torjok,  accused  of  having 
put  to  death  one  of  his  men,  were  cut  to  pieces. 

Vassili  Dmitrievitch  then,  on  his  accession  to  the  throne, 
found  his  power  considerably  strengthened,  as  Vladimir  on  the 
Kliazma  and  Novgorod  the  Great,  the  objects  of  so  many  bloody 
contests  with  the  Russian  princes,  had  in  some  ways  already 
become  integral  parts  of  his  dominions.  If  he  went  to  the  Horde 
in  1392,  it  was  less  to  obtain  the  confirmation  of  this  triple  crown 
than  to  acquire  new  territories.  From  the  Khan  Tokhtamych  he 
bought  a  iarlikh,  which  put  him  in  possession  of  the  three  appan- 
ages of  Mourom,  Nijni-Novgorod,  and  Souzdal.  The  boyards 
of  Moscow  and  the  ambassador  of  the  Khan  betook  themselves 
to  Nijni.  Boris,  the  last  titular  prince  of  the  two  latter  appa- 
nages, was  betrayed  by  his  men,  who  persuaded  him  to  open  the 
gates,  and  delivered  him  up  to  the  soldiers  of  the  Grand  Prince. 
Then,  with  the  ringing  of  all  the  bells  in  the  town,  Vassili  of 
Moscow  was  proclaimed  Prince  of  Nijni  and  Souzdal. 

This  prince,  who  lived  on  such  good  terms  with  the  Horde, 
was  witness,  however,  of  two  Tatar  invasions  of  Russia.  Tamer- 
lane, conqueror  of  the  Ottoman  Turks  at  Anticyra,  attacked  his 
old  favorite  Tokhtamych,  and  pillaged  the  Golden  Horde.  He 
continued  to  move  towards  the  West,  putting  the  Russian  ter- 
ritory to  fire  and  sword.  Moscow  was  threatened  with  an  inva- 
sion as  terrible  as  that  of  Bati.  The  famous  Virgin  of  Vladimir, 
brought  by  Andrew  Bogolioubski  from  Vychegorod,  was  taken 
solemnly  to  Moscow.  The  Tatars  reached  Kletz  on  the  Don, 
and  made  its  princes  prisoners.  There  they  stopped,  and  sud- 
denly retreated.  Accustomed  to  the  rich  booty  of  Bokhara  and 
Hindostan,  and  dreaming  of  Constantinople  and  Egypt,  they 


ffIS7-0RY  OF  Ki'SS/A. 


»55 


found,  no  doubt,  that  the  desert  steppes  and  deep  forests  only 
offered  a  very  meagre  prey.  They  indemnified  themselves  by 
the  pillage  of  Azof,  where  Egyptian,  Venetian,  Genoese,  Catalan 
and  Biscayan  merchants  had  accumulated  great  wealth,  and 
by  the  destruction  of  Astrakhan  and  Sarai  (1395.) 

The  irruption  of  Tamerlane  resulted  in  the  more  rapid  dis- 
solution of  the  Golden  Horde.  We  have  seen  that  Viiovt  took 
advantage  of  it  to  organize  against  the  Mongols  his  great  crusade 
of  the  Vorskla  (1399).  Vassili  Dmitrievitch  had  taken  good  care 
not  to  interfere  in  the  war  between  Lithuania  and  the  Kiptchaks. 
His  Western  neighbors  appeared  to  him  more  dangerous  than 
those  of  the  East ;  with  the  latter  the  payment  of  the  tribute 
still  sufficed,  with  the  former  the  stake  was  the  existence  of 
Russia.  Vassili  profited  by  the  defeat  of  the  one  and  the  dis- 
organization of  the  other,  and  was  careful  to  irritate  neither  party. 
As  the  Horde  was  then  disputed  by  many  competitors,  he  for- 
bore to  pay  the  tribute,  affecting  not  to  know  which  was  the  legi- 
timate Khan.  Ediger,  the  vanquisher  of  Vitovt,  resolved  to 
reduce  the  Russian  vassals  to  obedience.  He  lulled  the  pru- 
dence of  the  Muscovites  to  rest  by  spreading  the  rumor  that  he 
was  assembling  troops  for  a  war  against  Lithuania.  Suddenly 
they  heard  that  he  had  entered  the  Grand  Principality.  Vassili 
imitated  the  conduct  of  his  father  in  similar'circumstances.  He 
retired  to  Kostroma  to  assemble  an  army,  and  confided  the 
defence  of  Moscow  to  Vladimir  the  Brave.  Defended  by  artil- 
lery, the  Kremlin  could  withstand  the  attack  of  a  large  force, 
but  the  dense  population  caused  fears  of  famine.  Ediger  burnt 
the  towns  in  the  flat  country  while  blockading  Moscow.  Ivan, 
prince  of  Tver,  showed  on  this  occasion  more  greatness  of  soul 
and  political  wisdom  than  his  father  Alichael.  He  abstained 
from  coming  to  the  help  of  the  Tatars  against  his  formidable 
suzerain.  In  these  circumstances  Ediger  learnt  that  his  master 
Boulat  himself  feared  an  attack  at  the  Horde  by  his  Oriental 
enemies.  To  cover  his  forced  retreat  he  addressed  a  haughty 
letter  to  the  Grand  Prince,  summoning  him  to  pay  tribute  ;  he 
obtained  three  thousand  roubles  from  the  Muscovite  boyards  as 
a  war  indemnity  (1408). 

Vitovt  of  Lithuania,  whose  daughter  Sophia  Vassili  had  mar- 
ried, was  a  still  more  dangerous  eliemy.  Great  caution  was 
necessary  in  all  dealings  with  him.  Vassili  saw  the  hand  of  his 
father-in-law,  in  the  troubles  of  Novgorod,  everywhere  ;  at  Pskof, 
where  Vitovt  had  taken  the  title  of  Grand  Prince  ;  at  Smolensk, 
which  he  had  united  to  Lithuania  ;  at  Tver,  where  he  supported 
Michael  against  the  Grand  Prince.  Like  Olgerd,  Vitovt  marched 
thrice  against  Moscow.     Each  of  the  two  rivals  had  too  many 


156  HISTOR  Y  OF  RUSSIA. 

other  enemies  to  dispose  of,  to  risk  in  one  battle  the  fortunes  of 
Moscow  or  Lithuania.  In  1408  they  signed  a  treaty  by  which 
the  Ougra  was  fixed  on  as  the  limit  of  the  two  Grand  Princi- 
palities, leaving  Smolensk  to  Vitovt,  and  restoring  Kozelsk  to 
Russia.  Besides  Mourom  and  Souzdal,  Vassili  had  united  to 
his  domains  many  appanages  of  the  country  of  Tchernigof,  such 
as  Toroussa,  Novossil,  Kozelsk,  and  Peremysl.  In  the  quarrels 
with  Novgorod,  generally  occasioned  by  the  exploits  of  the  Good 
Companions  or  by  commercial  rivalr)^,  he  had  appropriated  vasi 
territories  on  the  Dwina  ;  among  others,  Vologda.  In  an  exped 
ition  against  the  republic  of  Viatka  he  had  reduced  it  to  sub 
mission,  and  made  one  of  his  brothers  its  prince.  He  had 
imposed  a  treaty  on  Feodor  Olgivitch,  prince  of  Riazan,  by 
which  the  latter  undertook  to  look  on  him  as  a  father,  and  tc 
make  no  alliance  to  his  hurt.  Vassili  on  his  side  ceded  to  him 
Toula  and  the  title  of  Grand  Prmce.  The  Oka  formed  the 
boundary  of  the  two  States.  He  made,  no  doubt,  a  similar 
treaty  with  Ivan,  prince  of  Tver.  One  of  his  daughters  had 
married  the  Emperor  John  Palasologus. 

The  reign  of  Vassili  the  Blind  (1425-1462),  contemporary 
with  Charles  VII.  of  France,  marks  a  pause  in  the  development 
of  the  Grand  Principality.  A  civil  war  of  twenty  years  broke 
out  in  the  bosom  of  the  family  of  Doiiskoi.  One  of  his  sons, 
George,  or  louri,  whom  he  had  made  Prince  of  Roussa  and 
Zvenigorod,  attempted  to  revert  to  the  ancient  national  law,  and 
invoked  his  right  as  "  eldest  "  against  his  nephew,  Vassili  Vas- 
silidvitch.  Vassili's  other  uncles  declared  in  favor  of  the  young 
prince.  In  1 431  it  was  necessary  to  carry  the  dispute  to  the 
Horde.  Each  of  the  two  parties  set  forth  his  right  to  the  Khan 
Oulou-Makhmet.  Vsevolojski,  a  boyard  of  the  Prince  of  Mos- 
cow, found  the  best  of  arguments  for  his  master.  "  \l\  Lord 
Tzar,"  he  said  to  Makhmet,  "  let  me  speak — me,  the  slave  of 
the  Grand  Prince.  My  master  the  Grand  Prince  prays  for  the 
throne  of  the  Grand  Principality,  which  is  thy  property,  having 
no  other  title  but  thy  protection,  thy  investiture,  and  thy  iarlikh. 
Thou  art  master,  and  can  dispose  of  it  according  to  thy  good 
pleasure.  My  lord  the  Prince  louri  Dmitrie'vitch,  his 'uncle, 
claims  the  Grand  Principality  by  the  act  and  the  will  of  his 
father,  but  not  as  a  favor  from  the  All-powerful."  In  this  con- 
test of  baseness  the  prize  was  adjudged  to  the  Prince  of  Moscow, 
The  Khan  ordered  louri  to  lead  his  nephew's  horse  by  the 
bridle.  A  Tatar  baskak  was  present  at  the  coronation  of  the 
Grand  Prince,  which  took  place,  for  the  first  time,  not  at  Vladi- 
mir, but  at  the  Assumption  in  Moscow.  From  this  time  Vladi- 
mir lost  her  privileges  as  the  capital,  although,  in  the  enumeration 


mSTOK  Y  OF  R USSIA.  1 5 7. 

of  their  titles,  the  Grand  Prhices  continued  to  inscribe  the  name 
of  Vladimir  before  that  of  Moscow. 

VassiH  owed  his  throne  to  the  clever  boyard,  Vsevolojski. 
He  had  promised  to  marry  his  daughter,  but  his  own  mother, 
Sophia,  the  proud  Lithuanian,  daughter  of  the  great  Vitovt, 
made  him  contract  an  alliance  with  the  Princess  Maria,  grand- 
daughter of  Vladimir  the  Brave.  The  irritated  bovard  left  Vas- 
sill's  service,  and  retired  to  his  enemy,  louri,  whose  resentment 
against  his  nephew  he  fanned.  Another  circumstance  exasper- 
ated louri ;  his  two  sons,  Vassili  the  Squinting,  and  Chemiaka, 
assisted  at  the  marriage  of  the  Grand  Prince.  The  Princess 
Sophia  recognized  round  the  waist  of  Vassili  the  Squinting  a 
belt  of  gold  which  had  belonged  to  Dmitri  Donskoi'.  She  had 
the  imprudence,  publicly  and  with  open  scandal,  to  take  it  from 
the  son  of  louri.  On  this  affront,  the  two  princes  at  once  left 
the  banqueting-hall,  and  retired  to  their  father.  The  latter  in- 
stantly took  up  arms,  and  departed  for  Pereiaslavl.  The  Prince 
of  Moscow  could  hardly  assemble  any  troops,  and  fell  into  the 
hands  of  his  uncle  at  Kostroma,  (1433).  Vassili  tried  in  vain  to 
soften  him  by  his  tears.  The  Squinter  and  Chemiaka  wished 
their  prisoner  to  be  put  to  death,  but  by  the  sel.'  Interested  counsel 
of  the  boyard  Morozof,  louri  allowed  his  nephew  to  live,  and 
gave  him  the  appanage  of  Kostroma,  while  he  took  for  himself 
the  Grand  Principality.  The  affection  of  the  Muscovites  for 
their  prince  was  so  great,  that  they  abandoned  their  city  en  masse, 
and  crowded  into  Kostroma,  louri  saw  that  his  nephew  was 
still  powerful,  reproached  Morozof  for  his  perfidious  advice,  and 
had  him  stabbed  by  his  two  sons.  "  Thou  hast  ruined  our 
father,"  they  said.  The  usurper  was  indeed  unable  to  remain  in 
Moscow,  and  sent  to  tell  his  nephew  he  might  come  and  take 
possession  of  it.  The  boyards  pressed  around  Vassili  on  his 
return  to  his  capital,  "as  bees  press  around  their  queen,"  The 
war,  however,  continued  :  thanks  to  the  cowardice  of  Vassili, 
louri  again  took  the  Kremlin,  and  made  prisoners  the  wife  and 
mother  of  the  Grand  Prince,  while  the  Squinter  and  Chemiaka 
occupied  Vladimir,  and  marched  on  Nijni-Novgorod. 

louri  had  hardly  been  recognized  as  Grand  Prince  of  Nov- 
gorod, when  he  died  suddenlv.  His  sons  then  made  peace  with 
Vassili,  but  immediately  took  up  arms  again.  In  one  of  the 
many  reverses  of  this  civil  war,  Vassili  the  Squinting  fell  into 
the  hands  of  the  Grand  Prince,  who  had  his  eyes  put  out  in  an 
excess  of  fury  (1436).  Then,  by  one  of  those  changes  com« 
mon  to  violent  and  impulsive  natures,  he  passed  from  anger  to 
dismay;  and  to  atone  for  his  crime  against  his  cousin,  set  free 
Chemiaka,   whom  he   had  made   prisoner  at   the  same   time. 


1^8  HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA. 

Chemiaka  promised  to  serve  him,  but  served  him  very  badly. 
In  a  battle  with  the  Tatars,  his  desertion  caused  the  rout  of  the 
Russian  army  (siege  of  Bielef,  in  Lithuania).  In  1441  the  wat 
beo^an  again  between  the  Grand  Prince  and  Chemiaka.  The 
latter, with  some  thousands  of  Free-lances  and  Good  Companions, 
suddenly  undertook  the  siege  of  Moscow.  Zenobius,  superior 
of  the  Troitsa  monastery,  succeeded  once  more  in  reconciling 
them.  Chemiaka  displayed  his  ordinary  duplicity  on  the  occa- 
sion of  a  military  incursion  of  the  Tatars  of  Kazan.  The  Grand 
Prince  waited  in  vain  for  the  succors  that  had  been  promised 
him,  and  it  was  with  only  1500  men  that  he  finally  took  the  field, 
so  much  had  the  discords  between  the  descendants  of  Dmitri 
Donskoi  weakened  the  Grand  Principality,  loosened  the  ties  of 
obedience  among  the  vassals,  and  degraded  that  Russia  which 
had  armed  150,000  men  against  Mamai.  Vassili,  covered  with 
fifteen  wounds,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  barbarians,  and  was 
led  prisoner  to  Kazan. 

Moscow  was  in  despair.  The  Prince  of  Tver  inswlted  her 
territory ;  Chemiaka  intrigued  at  the  Horde  to  get  himself  nom- 
inated Grand  Prince.  All  at  once  the  Tzar  of  Kazan  took  it 
into  his  head  to  liberate  his  prisoners  for  a  small  ransom. 
Vassili  re-entered  his  capital  amid  the  acclamations  of  his 
people.  Chemiaka  had  done  enough  to  fear  the  vengeance  of 
the  Grand  Prince  ;  in  the  interests  of  his  own  safety,  Vassili 
must  be  overthrown.  Following  the  example  of  his  father  and 
grandfather,  Vassili  went  to  the  Troitsa  monastery  to  return 
thanks  to  Saint  Sergius  for  his  deliverance.  He  had  few  com- 
panions and  Chemiaka  and  his  associates  surprised  the  Kremlin 
in  his  absence,  and  captured  his  wife,  his  mother,  and  his  treas- 
ures. Then  he  flew  to  Troitsa,  w'here  his  accomplice,  Ivan  of 
Mojaisk,  discovered  the  Grand  Prince,  who  was  hidden  in  the 
principal  church  near  the  tomb  of  Saint  Sergius.  He  was 
brought  back  to  Moscow,  and  ten  years  after  the  blinding  of 
Vassili  the  Squinting.  Chemiaka  avenged  his  brother  by  putting 
out  the  eyes  of  the  Grand  Prince  (1446). 

During  his  short  reign  at  Moscow,  Chemiaka  had  made  him- 
self hated  by  the  people  and  the  boyards,  who  were  faithful  at 
bottom  to  their  unhappy  prince.  In  the  pojDular  language,  a 
"judgment  of  Chemiaka  "  became  the  synonym  for  a  crying 
wrong.  Presently  Vassili's  partisans  assembled  troops  in 
Lithuania,  joined  those  of  the  two  Tatar  tzarrritcJics,  and 
marched  against  the  usurper.  At  this  period,  Russia  was  in- 
fested by  armed  bands,  the  relics  of  the  great  Tatar  and 
Lithuanian  wars,  Lithuanian  adventurers,  tzarfviiclies  banished 
from  the  Horde,  Novgorodian  Good  Companions,  Free-lances 


IirSTOR  Y  OF  RUSSIA.  I ^g 

of  all  races.  They  ravaged  the  flat  country,  attacked  ihe 
strongest  towns,  and  tlieir  chiefs  sometimes  created  ephemeral 
principaliiies  for  themselves.  As  the  Asiatic  element  predom- 
inated in  them,  they  might  be  termed  Great  Mongol  Co?i!panies, 
analogous  to  the  Great  English  or  tlie  French  Companies  that, 
about  the  year  1444,  Charles  VII.  sent  to  Alsace  and  Switzer- 
•  land.  Serving  Chemiaka  or  the  Grand  Prince  indifferently,  they 
did  their  best  to  perpetuate  the  quarrel.  Chemiaka  wished  to 
march  against  his  enemies.  Hardly  had  he  left  Moscow  when 
the  city  broke  into  revolt,  and  Vassili  entered  in  triumph. 
Chemiaka  fled,  and  accepted  a  reconciliation  with  his  victim 
(1447).  Incapable  of  repose,  he  again  took  up  arms,  was  com- 
pletely defeated  near  Galitch  by  the  Muscovites  and  Tatars 
(1450),  and  fled  to  Novgorod,  where  he  is  said  to  have  died 
three  years  after,  by  poison.  All  his  appanages  were  reunited 
to  the  royal  domain. 

Disembarrassed  of  this  dangerous  enemy,  Vassili  the  Blind 
hastened  to  take  up  the  work  of  his  predecessors.  Novgorod 
had  not  ceased  to  give  asylum  to  his  enemies,  to  des])ise  the 
authority  of  his  lieutenants,  to  contest  his  right  of  final  appeal 
and  the  supremacy  of  the  Metropolitan.  A  5luscovite  army  re- 
duced her  to  reason  ;  she  was  forced  to  annul  all  the  acts  of  the 
vetch?  which  tended  to  limit  the  authority  of  the  Grand  Prince, 
to  pay  him  a  heavy  indemnity,  and  to  promise  to  set  no  seal  but 
that  of  Vassili  on  her  deeds.  Pskof  received  one  of  his  sons  as 
her  prince.  The  republic  of  Viatka  had  to  pay  tribute,  and  to 
furnish  a  military  contingent.  The  Prince  of  Riazan  having  just 
died,  Vassili  took  his  young  heir  to  Moscow,  under  pretence  of 
bringing  him  up,  and  sent  his  lieutenant  to  govern  the  appan- 
age. Vassili  of  Borovsk,  grandson  of  Vladimir  the  Brave,  had 
rendered  him  important  services,  but  none  the  less  was  he  im- 
prisoned, and  his  possessions  swallowed  up  in  the  Grand  Prin- 
cipality. The  authority  of  the  Grand  Prince  began  to  be  ex- 
ercised on  his  subordinates  with  new  rigor  ;  and  the  rebels,  real 
or  supposed,  were  subjected  to  the  knout,  tortures,  mutilations, 
and  refined  cruelties.  Vassili,  who  had  suffered  so  much  from 
the  appanaged  princes  louri  and  Chemiaka — who  was  so  ener- 
getic in  destroying  the  appanages  around  him — could  not  free 
himself  from  the  yoke  of  custom,  and  began  to  dismember  the 
principality  which  he  had  aggrandized,  in  favor  of  his  four 
younger  sons.  However,  to  avoid  all  contests  about  the  title  of 
Grand  Prince,  and  to  ensure  the  succession  of  the  direct  line, 
he  had,  since  the  year  1449,  associated  with  himself  his  eldest 
son,  Ivan. 

Memorable  events  had  agitated  the  orthodox  world  during 


1 6  o  ffIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA. 

his  reign.  In  1439,  Pope  Eugenius  IV.  assembled  the  Council 
of  Florence  to  discuss  the  union  of  the  two  Churches.  The 
Greek  Emperor,  John  Palaeologus,  who  hoped  to  obtain  the  help 
of  the  Pope  against  the  Ottomans,  had  sent  the  bishops  of 
his  communion  ;  Isidore,  Metropolitan  of  Moscow,  was  also 
present.  It  was  in  vain  that  the  Emperor  of  Constantinople, 
three  vicars  of  the  Patriarchs  of  the  East,  seventeen  met- 
ropolitans, and  a  multitude  of  bishops  signed  the  act  of 
union.  The  Greek  world  listened  to  the  energetic  protest  of 
Mark,  the  old  bishop  of  Ephesus,  and  rejected  the  union  with 
Rome.  Isidore  announced  at  Kief  and  Moscow  that  he  had 
signed  the  act  of  reconciliation  ;  the  appearance  of  the  Latin 
cross  at  the  Assumption  in  the  Kremlin,  the  name  of  Pope 
Eugenius  in  the  public  prayers,  and  the  reading  of  the  formal 
document,  astonished  the  Russians.  Vassili,  who  piqued  him- 
self on  his  theology,  also  raised  his  voice,  began  a  polemic 
against  Isidore,  and  so  overwhelmed  him  with  insults,  that  the 
"false  shepherd"  thought  it  prudent  to  fly  to  Rome.  This 
check  to  the  union  heralded  the  fall  of  the  Greek  empire.  In 
1453,  Mahomet  II.  entered  Constantinople.  There  was  no 
longer  a  Christian  Tzar  ;  Moscow  became  the  great  metropolis 
of  orthodoxy.  She  was  heir  of  Constantinople.  Soon  the 
monks,  the  artists,  the  literary  men  of  Constantinople  were  to 
bring  to  her,  as  to  the  rest  of  Europe,  the  Renaissance. 


JfJSTOA'  1 '  O/'-  KC/SS/A.  1 0  I 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

IVAN    THE     GREAT,     THE    UNITER    OF    THE     RUSSIAN    LAND 

(1462-1505). 

Submission  of  Novgorod — Annexation  of  Tver,  Rostof,  and  laroslavl — Wars 
with  the  Great  Horde  and  Kazan — End  of  the  Tatar  yoke — Wars  with 
Lithuania — Western  Russia  as  far  as  tlie  Soja  reconquered — Marriage  with 
Sophia  Palaeologus — Greeks  and  Italians  at  the  Court  of  Moscow. 


SUBMISSION  OF  NOVGOROD — ANNEXATION  OF   THE   PRINCIPALITIES 
OF    TVER,    ROSTOF,    AND     lAROSLAVL. 

At  the  death  of  Vassili  tlie  Blind,  Russia  was  all  but  stifled 
between  the  great  Lithuanian  empire  and  the  vast  possessions 
of  the  Mongols.  To  the  north,  she  had  two  restless  neighbors, 
the  Livonian  Order  and  Sweden.  In  spite  of  the  labors  of  eight 
Muscovite  princes,  the  little  Russian  State  could  not  yet  make 
its  unity  a  fact  ;  Riazan  and  Tver,  though  weakened,  still  ex- 
isted. Novgorod  and  Pskof  hesitated  between  the  Grand 
Princes  of  Moscow  and  Lithuania.  The  heirs  of  Kalitn,  by 
creating  new  appanages,  incessantly  destroyed  the  unity  after 
which  they  toiled,  by  means  of  a  pitiless  policy.  Muscovy, 
which  touches  on  no  sea,  had  only  intermittent  relations  with 
the  centres  of  European  civilization.  It  was,  however,  the  lime 
when  the  nations  of  the  West  beoan  to  be  organized.  Charles 
V'll.  and  Louis  XI,  in  France,  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  in  Spain, 
the  Tudors  in  England,  Frederic  III.  and  Maximilian  in  Austria, 
labored  to  build  up  powerful  States  from  the  ruins  of  feudal 
anarchy.  European  civilization  made  unheard-of  strides  ;  the 
Renaissance  began,  printing  spread,  Christopher  Columbus  and 
Vasco  da  Gama  discovered  new  worlds.  Was  not  Russia  also 
going  to  achieve  her  unity,  to  take  jiart  in  the  great  European 
movement  ?  The  man  who  was  tn  restore  her  to  herself,  to  free 
her  from  the  Mongol  yoke,  to  put  her  into  relations  with  the 
West, — this  man  was  expected.  It  had  all  been  predicted. 
When  a  son  named  Ivan  was  born  in  1440  to  Vassili  the  Blind, 
an  old  rnonk  had  a  revelation  about  it  in  Novgorod  the  Great. 


1 62  HIS  TOR  V  OF  A'  USSIA. 

He  came  and  said  to  his  archbishop  :  "  Truly  it  is  to-day  that 
the  Grand  Prince  triumphs  ;  God  has  given  him  an  heir  ;  I  be- 
hold this  child  making  himself  illustrious  by  glorious  deeds. 
He  will  subdue  princes  and  peoples.  But  woe  to  Novgorod  ! 
Novgorod  will  fall  at  his  feet,  and  never  rise  up  again." 

Ivan  III.,  whose  reign  of  forty-three  years  was  to  permit  him 
to  realize  the  expectations  of  Russia,  was  a  cold,  imperious,  cal- 
culating prince,  the  very  type  of  the  Souzdalian  and  Muscovite 
princes.  Disliking  war,  he  allowed  doubts  to  be  thrown  upon 
his  courage.  He  was  victorious  in  Lithuania,  in  Livonia  and 
Siberia,  almost  without  leaving  the  Kiemlin.  His  father  had 
taken  long  journeys,  which  led  him  into  many  sad  adventures, 
but  Stephen  of  Moldavia  said  of  Ivan  :  "  Ivan  is  a  strange  man  ; 
he  stays  quietly  at  home  and  triumphs  over  his  enemies,  while 
I,  though  always  on  horseback,  cannot  defend  my  country." 
It  was  the  verdict  of  Edward  HI.  on  Charles  V.  Ivan  ex- 
hausted his  enemies  by  negotiations  and  delay,  and  never  em- 
ployed force  till  it  was  absolutely  necessary.  His  devotion  was 
mixed  with  hypocrisy.  He  wept  for  his  relatives  whom  he  put 
to  death,  as  Louis  XL  bewailed  the  Due  de  Guienne.  Born  a 
desjDot,  "  he  had,"  says  Karamsin,  "penetrated  the  secret  of  au- 
tocracy, and  became  a  formidable  deity  in  the  eyes  of  the  Rus- 
sians." His  glance  caused  women  to  faint.  When  he  slept 
after  his  meals,  it  was  wonderful  to  see  the  frightened  respect  of 
the  boyards  for  the  sleep  of  the  master.  He  inflicted  cruel  pun- 
ishments and  tortures  on  all  rebels,  even  on  those  of  the  highest 
rank  ;  he  mutilated  the  counsellors  of  his  son,  whipped  Prince 
Oukhtomski  and  the  archimandrite  of  a  powerful  monastery, 
and  burned  alive  two  Poles  in  an  iron  cage  on  the  Moskowa,  for 
having  conspired  against  him.  He  had  already  won  the  sur- 
name of  "Terrible,"  which  his  grandson  was  to  bear  even  more 
justly. 

Ivan's  first  effort  was  directed  against  Novgorod  the  Great. 
The  republic  of  the  Ilmen  was  dying  in  the  anarchy  of  the  aris- 
tocracy, the  dissensions  of  the  people,  the  Church,  and  especially 
of  the  boyards.  It  is  of  this  epoch  that  M.  Bielaef  has  said, 
that  "parties  in  Novgorod  had  become  so  complicated,  that 
often  il  is  difficult  to  perceive  from  what  motive  this  or  that  fac- 
tion excited  troubles  and  revolts."  They  thought  themselves 
able  to  despise  the  authority  of  a  new  prince,  and  had  the  im- 
prudence to  neglect  the  complaints  and  suggestions  made  in  a 
tolerably  moderate  tone  by  Ivan  HI.  He  then  signified  to  the 
Pskovians  that  they  would  have  to  second  him  in  an  ex]")edition 
against  the  rebels.  This  the  Pskovians  did  not  wish  to  do,  fore- 
seeing that  the   fall  of  Novgorod  would   drag   them  down  als;« 


HIS  TO  K  Y  OF  K  USSIA.  i  G  3 

They  offered  their  mediation  to  their  "elder  sister" — it  was 
rejected,  and  they  were  obliged  to  proceed.  Ivan  III.  often 
received,  however,  the  Archbishop  of  Novgorod,  Theophilus,  in 
his  palace  at  Moscow,  and  continued  to  negotiate,  lie  had  a 
large  parly  in  Novgorod,  but  the  opposing  faction  was  the  bolder. 
Marfa,  the  widow  of  the  possadnik  Boretski,  mother  of  two 
grown-up  sons,  put  herself  at  the  head  of  the  anti-Muscovite 
party.  Ready  and  eloquent  speech,  immense  wealth,  an  auda- 
city etjual  to  everything,  had  given  her  a  great  influence  with 
the  people  and  the  boyards.  This  intrepid  woman  was  the  last 
incarnation  of  Novgorodian  liberty.  To  save  the  republic,  Marfa 
wished  to  throw  it  into  the  arms  of  the  King  of  Poland,  Casimir 
IV.  She  contended  also  that  the  Archbishop  of  Novgorod 
should  be  nominated  by  the  Metropolitan  of  Kief,  not  by  the 
Metropolitan  of  Moscow.  In  her  devotion  to  Novgorod,  she 
thus  betrayed  the  cause  of  Russia  and  orthodoxy.  The  sittings 
of  the  vetc/ie,  amid  the  opposition  of  the  two  parties,  degenerated 
into  violent  tumults.  Some  cried,  "The  king;"  others,  "Long 
live  orthodox  Moscow!  long  live  the  Grand  Prince  Ivan  and 
our  father  the  Metropolitan  Philip!"  The  friends  of  Marfa 
finally  won  the  day.  Novgorod  handed  herself  over  to  the  King 
of  Poland  by  a  formal  act  in  which  she  stipulated  for  the  same 
rights  as  she  iiad  enjoyed  under  her  ancient  princes.  Ivan  III. 
tried  once  more  to  recall  the  citizens  to  obedience,  and  he  sent 
them  an  ambassador,  but  the  party  of  Marfa  was  always  the 
more  numerous  or  the  more  noisy.  At  last  Ivan  decided  to 
begin  the  war.  His  voievodes  made  the  conquest  of  the  terri- 
tory of  the  Dwina;  the  Muscovites,  supported  by  the  Tatar  cav- 
alrv,  cruelly  ravaged  the  territory  of  the  *'  perfidious  "  Novgoro- 
dians ;  after  the  battle  of  Korostyne,  they  cut  off  the  noses  and 
lips  of  the  prisoners.  The  republicans  had  fallen  from  their  an- 
cient valor ;  Marfa  had  hastily  enrolled  ill-disciplined  artisans. 
At  the  battle  of  the  Chelona,  5000  Muscovites  defeated  30,000 
Novgorodians.  At  Roussa  the  Grand  Prince  caused  manv  bov- 
ards  to  be  beheaded,  one  of  whom  was  a  son  of  Marfa,  and  sent 
others  as  prisoners  into  Muscovy.  Ivan  III.  always  advanced, 
fighting  and  negotiating.  Novgorod  submitted,  paid  a  war  in- 
demnity, and,  if  she  still  remained  a  republic,  she  was  a  republic 
dependent  on  the  good  pleasure  of  the  Prince  (1470). 

From  that  time  Ivan  labored  entirely  to  reduce  the  town, 
and  his  party  in  Novgorod  increased.  If  the  people  complained 
of  the  injustice  of  his  lieutenants,  he  blamed  the  insufficiency  of 
the  ancient  laws  of  the  city.  He  tried  to  excite  the  animosity 
of  the  lower  classes  against  the  boyards.  It  was  by  the  invita 
tion  of  the  former  that  he  came  in  1475  ^°  '^^^^  ^  solemn  court 


164  HISTOR  Y  OF  RUSSIA. 

in  Novgorod.  Great  and  small  immediately  crowded  to  his  tri« 
bunal,  to  beg  for  justice  one  against  the  other.  Ivan  saw  how 
much  his  own  cause  was  strengthened  by  these  divisions.  An 
act  of  authority  that  he  tried,  succeeded  completely.  Marfa's 
second  son,  the  possadnik,  and  many  boyards  were  loaded 
with  chains,  and  sent  to  Moscow.  No  one  dared  to  protest. 
On  his  return  to  his  capital,  a  multitude  of  complainants 
hastened  after  him  ;  he  forced  them  all  to  appear  before  him. 
Since  Rurik,  say  the  annalists,  such  a  violation  of  Novgorod's 
liberty  had  never  been  known.  Profiting  by  a  documentary 
error  made  by  the  envoys  of  the  town,  he  declared  himself  sov- 
ereign (goCj'oudar)  of  Novgorod,  instead  of  lord  (gospodine). 
Now  if  this  interpretation  were  accepted,  the  subjection  of  the 
republic,  which  was  only  a  matter  of  fact,  would  become  a  matter 
of  law.  The  party  of  Marfa  made  a  last  effort  to  reject  this  sov- 
ereignty ;  the  friends  of  the  Grand  Prince  were  massacred.  Ivan 
declared  that  the  Novgorodians,  after  having  accorded  him  the 
title  oi  gocoudar,  had  the  effrontery  to  deny  it.  Then  the  Met- 
ropolitan, the  bishops,  the  boyards,  all  Moscow,  advised  him  to 
make  war.  Accordingly  it  was  preached  as  a  Holy  War  against 
the  allies  of  the  Pope  and  Lithuania.  All  the  forces  of  Russia 
were  put  in  motion,  and  many  boyards  of  Novgorod  appeared  at 
the  camp  of  the  Grand  Prince.  The  city  was  blockaded,  and 
starved  out.  In  vain  the  partisans  of  Marfa  shouted  the  old 
war-cry:  "'Let  us  die  for  liberty  and  Saint  Sophia!"  They 
were  forced  to  capitulate.  Ivan  guaranteed  to  them  their  per- 
sons and  possessions,  their  ancient  jurisdiction,  and  exemption 
from  the  Muscovite  service  ;  but  the  vetche  and  the  possadnik 
were  abolished  forever.  The  belfry  was  reduced  to  silence. 
The  Republic  of  Novgorod  had  ceased  to  exist  (1478). 

Marfa  and  the  principal  oligarchs  were  transported  to  Moscow, 
and  their  goods  confiscated.  Many  times  afterwards,  there  were 
party  agitations,  which  were  quelled  by  Ivan  III.  and  his  suc- 
cessor, by  numerous  transportations.  In  1481  some  boyards 
were  tortured  and  put  to  death.  Eight  thousand  Novgorodians 
were  transplanted  to  the  towns  of  Souzdal.  Ivan  III.  struck 
another  terrible  blow  at  the  prosperity  of  the  city  when,  in  1495, 
after  a  quarrel  with  the  people  of  Revel,  he  caused  the  merchants 
of  forty-nine  Hanseatic  towns  to  be  arrested  at  Novgorod, 
pillaged  the  "  German  market,"  and  removed  wares  to  the  value 
of  ;^4o,ooo  to  Moscow.  The  covetous  Grand  Prince  doubtless 
did  not  see  he  was  killing  the  hen  with  the  golden  eggs.  A  long 
while  elapsed  before  the  merchants  of  the  West  again  made 
their  appearance  in  Novgorod.  Pskof,  more  docile,  had  preserved 
Jjer  vetch^  and  her  ancient  institutions. 


rrsrORV  OF  RUSSIA. 


1C5 


Whilst  he  was  destroying  the  liberty  of  Novgorod,  Ivan  de- 
prived her  of  her  colonies,  and  undertook  on  his  own  account  the 
conquest  of  Northern  Russia,  By  this  time  Muscovy  extended 
as  far  as  Finland,  the  While  Sea  and  the  Icy  Ocean,  and  had 
already  obtained  a  footing  in  Asia.  Ivan  had  conquered  Permia 
in  1472,  by  which  means  he  became  master  of  the  "  silver  beyond 
the  Kama,"  which  the  Novgorodians  had  hitherto  got  in  the 
course  of  trade.  In  1489,  Viatka,  which  had  fallen  for  a  short 
time  into  the  power  of  the  Tatars  of  Kazan,  was  reconquered, 
and  lost  her  republican  organization.  In  1499  the  voievodes  of 
Oustiougue,  of  the  Dwina  and  of  Viatka,  advanced  as  far  as  the 
Petchora,  and  built  a  fortress  on  the  banks  of  the  river.  In  the 
depth  of  winter,  in  sledges  drawn  by  dogs,  they  passed  the  defiles 
of  the  Ourals,  in  the  teeth  of  the  wind  and  snow,  slew  50  of  the 
Samoyedes,  and  captured  200  reindeer  ;  invaded  the  territory  of 
the  Vogoulsand  Ougrians,  the  Finnish  brethren  of  the  Magyars; 
took  40  enclosures  of  palisades,  made  50  princes  prisoners,  and 
returned  to  Moscow,  after  having  reduced  this  unknown  country, 
supposed  by  the  geographers  of  antiquity  to  be  the  home  of  so 
many  wonders  and  monsters.  Russia,  like  the  maritime  nations 
of  the  West,  had  discovered  a  new  world. 

The  cultivated  provinces  of  Central  Russia  were  more  im- 
portant than  the  deserts  of  the  North.  Here  there  were  no  im- 
mense territories  to  be  conquered,  but  only  the  territories  of  the 
smaller  appanaged  princes  to  be  grafted  on  to  the  already  united 
mass.  Ivan  III.  might  have  dethroned  the  young  Prince  of 
Riazan,  whom  his  father  had  brought  to  Moscow,  but  he  preferred 
to  give  him  the  hand  of  his  sister,  Anne  Vassilievna,  and  send 
him  back  to  his  territories  (1464).  The  absorption  of  the  prin- 
cipalities of  Riazan  and  Novgorod-Severski  was  reserved  for  his 
successor.  He  showed  the  same  moderation  about  Tver,  but  in 
1482  Prince  Michael,  who  had  only  maintained  his  position  on 
sufferance,  had  the  imprudence  to  ally  himself  with  Lithuania. 
Ivan  hailed  this  pretext  with  joy,  and  marched  in  ])erson  against 
Tver,  accompanied  by  the  celebrated  Aristotele  Fioraventi  of 
Bologna,  grand  master  of  his  artillery.  Michael  took  to  flight; 
and  Ivan  began  to  organize  his  new  subjects.  A  principality 
which  could  furnish  40,000  soldiers  was  united  to  Moscow  without 
a  blow.  In  like  manner  he  obtained  possession  of  Vereia  and 
of  Bie'lozersk,  and  deprived  the  princes  of  Rostof  and  laroslavl 
of  their  ancient  rights  of  sovereignty. 

His  father,  by  giving  appanages  to  his  brothers,  had  prepared 
for  him  a  new  and  ungrateful  task,  but  Ivan  undertook  it  without 
Scruple.  When  his  brother  louri  died,  he  wept  much  for  him, 
but  at  once  laid  hands  on  his  towns  of  Dmitrof,  Mojaisk,  and 


1 66  HIS  TOR  Y  OF  F  USSIA. 

Serpoukhof,  thereby  causing  his  other  brothers,  who  hoped  to 
share  the  spoil,  great  discontent  (1468).  Andrew  was  accused 
of  an  understanding  with  Lithuania,  and  thrown  into  prison, 
where  he  died  (1493).  The  Grand  Prince  convoked  the  Metro- 
politan and  bishops  to  his  palace,  appeared  before  them  with 
downcast  eyes,  his  face  sorrowful  and  bathed  in  tears,  humbly 
accused  himself  of  having  been  too  cruel  to  his  unhappy  brother, 
and  submitted  to  their  pastoral  admonitions;  but  he  confiscated 
Andrew's  appanage  notwithstanding,  and  that  of  his  brother  Boris, 
who  died  a  short  time  after,  thus  reuniting  all  the  domains  of  his 
father.  He  acquired  the  surname  of  "  Binder  of  the  Russian 
Land,"  a  name  which  his  eight  predecessors  equally  merited.  It 
was  owing  to  their  earlier  labors  that  Ivan  was  able  to  become 
the  greatest  and  most  powerful  of  these  "  Binders."  He  avoided 
their  errors,  and  if  later  he  gave  appanages  to  his  own  children, 
it  was  only  on  condition  that  they  should  remain  subjects  of  their 
eldest  brother,  and  that  they  should  neither  have  the  right  to 
coin  money  nor  to  exercise  a  separate  diplomacy. 


A'ARS  WITH    THE  GREAT  HORDE    AND  KAZAN END    OF  THE    TATAR 

YOKE. 

The  empire  of  the  Horde  was  at  last  dissolved.  The  principal  ■ 
States  which  had  risen  from  its  debris  were  the  Tazarate  of  Kazan, 
that  of  Sarai  or  Astrakhan,  the  Horde  of  the  Nogais,  and  the 
Khanate  of  the  Crimea.  Kazan  and  the  Crimea  particularly 
presented  strange  ethnographical  amalgamations.  The  Tzarate 
of  Kazan  had  been  founded  in  the  reign  of  Vassili  the  Blind  on 
the  ruins  of  the  ancient  Bulgaria  on  the  Volga,  formerly  so 
flourishing  and  civilized,  by  a  banished  prince  of  the  Horde.  It 
was  the  same  Makhmet  who  had  tried  to  establish  himself  at 
Belef,  and  had  defeated  Chemiaka.  The  Mongols  had  mixed 
with  the  ancient  Bulgars,  and  reconstituted  an  important  centre 
of  commerce  and  civilization.  The  rule  of  the  Tzarate  extended 
over  the  Finnish  tribes  of  the  Mordvians,  the  Tchouvaches,  and 
the  Tcheremisses,  as  well  as  the  Bachkirs  and  Metcheraks.  The 
Khanate  of  the  Crimea  had  been  founded  almost  at  the  same 
date,  by  a  descendant  of  Genghis  Khan,  named  Azi.  A  peasant 
named  Ghirei  having  saved  him  from  death,  Azi  added  his  bene- 
factor's name  to  his  own,  and  henceforward  the  title  belonged  to 
all  the  khans  of  the  Crimea.  The  Mongols,  on  arriving  at  the 
peninsula,  found  it  occupied  by  the  remains  of  the  ancient  Tauric, 
Hellenic,  and  Gothic  races  ;  by  Armenians,  Jews,  and  Jewish 
Kharaites,  who  pretended  to  have  settled  B.C.  500  on  the  rocks 


j^rsTOR  Y  OF  A  USSIA .  167 

and  in  the  Troglodyte  cities  of  Tchoufout-Kale  and  Mangoup- 
Kale,  and  finally  by  the  Genoese  of  Kaffa.  The  Jews  and 
Italians  excepted,  a  large  part  of  the  ancient  population  was 
absorbed  by  the  Asiatic  invaders.  Thus  while  the  Tatars  of  the 
steppes  of  the  Northern  Crimea  are  pure  Mongols,  those  of 
the  mountains  of  the  south  seem  to  be  chiefly  Taurians,  Goths, 
and  Islamized  Greeks.  As  to  the  great  Horde  of  Sarai,  that 
was  almost  entirely  composed  of  nomads,  such  as  the  Nogais 
and  other  Turco-'l'atar  races. 

Anarchy  and  rivalry  reigned  in  the  heart  of  each  of  these 
States.  The  prmces  of  Kazan,  Sarai,  and  the  Crimea  came  to 
seek  an  asylum  from  the  Grand  Prince,  who  made  use  of  them  to 
perpetuate  these  divisions.  In  1473  Ivan  constituted  the  town 
of  Novgorod  of  Riazan  into  a  fief  for  one  Mustafa  ;  others  served 
in  the  armies,  and  aided  Ivan  against  Novgorod  and  Lithuania. 
Towards  the  khans  and  the  tzars,  especially  those  of  the  Great 
Horde  or  Sarai',  the  sovereign  of  Moscow  held  himself  on  the 
deiensive,  repelling  the  attacks  of  adventurers,  but  taking  care 
not  to  provoke  them  ;  avoiding  the  payment  of  the  tribute,  but 
disposed  to  send  t-Kem  presents.  At  the  same  time  he  schemed 
for  alliances  against  :be  Khan  of  Sarai,  and  despatched  to  the 
Turkoman  Oussoum-Hassan,  master  of  Persia  and  enemy  of  the 
Mongols,  his  Italian  ambassador,  M.irco  RulTo  (1477).  A  more 
solid  friendship  united  him  with  Mengli-Cihirei,  Khan  of  the 
Crimea,  and  lasted  all  their  lives.  Mengli  was  as  serviceable  to 
him  aijainst  Lithuania  as  against  the  Horde. 

In  1478,  having  carefully  taken  all  his  measures,  he  openly 
rebelled.  When  the  Khan  Akhmet  sent  his  ambassadors  with 
his  image  to  receive  the  tribute,  Ivan  HI.  trampled  the  image 
of  the  Khan  under  his  feet,  and  put  all  the  envoys  to  death,  ex- 
cepting one,  who  conveyed  the  news  to  the  Horde.  This  act, 
so  very  little  in  accordance  with  the  well-known  prudence  of 
Ivan,  is  not  to  be  found  in  all  the  chronicles.  When  Akhmet 
took  the  field,  Ivan  occupied  a  strong  position  on  the  Oka,  with 
a  more  numerous  and  better-organized  army  than  that  of  Dmitri 
Donskoi.  His  150,000  men  and  powerful  artillery  did  not,  how- 
ever, prevent  him  from  reflecting  much  on  thr:  hazard  of  battles. 
He  even  returned  to  reflect  at  Moscow,  and  it  needed  all  the 
clamors  of  the  people  to  induce  him  to  leave  it.  "\\'hat  !  "  ex- 
claimed the  Muscovites,  "  he  has  overtaxed  us,  and  refused  to 
pay  tribute  to  the  Horde,  and  now  that  he  has  irritated  the 
Khan,  he  declines  to  fight !  "  Ivan  wished  to  consult  his  mother, 
his  bovards,  and  his  bishops.  "  March  bravely  against  the 
enemy,'"  was  the  unanimous  reply.  '•  Is  it  the  part  of  mortals 
to  fear  death  t "  said  old  Archbishop  Vassiiin,     "  We  cannot 


1 68  HISTOR  V  OF  A' USS/A. 

escape  destiny."  Ivan  desired,  at  least,  to  send  his  young  son 
Ivan  back  to  Moscow,  but  the  prince  heroically  disobeyed. 
The  Grand  Prince  finally  decided  to  return  to  the  army,  blessed 
by  his  mother  and  the  Metropolitan,  who  promised  him  the 
victory  as  to  a  David  or  to  a  Constantine,  reminding  him  that 
"a  good  shepherd  will  lay  down  his  life  for  his  sheep,"  Ivan, 
who  did  not  feel  himself  made  of  the  stuff  of  a  Constantine,  kept 
his  army  immovable  on  the  Oka  and  the  Ougra  ;  the  two  forces 
contenting  themselves  with  sending  arrows  and  insults  across 
the  river.  Ivan  closed  his  ears  to  the  warlike  counsel  of  his 
boyards,  and  rather  listened  to  the  prudent  advice  of  his  two 
favorites — "  fat  and  powerful  lords,"  says  the  chronicle.  How- 
ever, he  refused  the  proposition  of  the  Khan,  who  offered  to 
pardon  him  if  he  would  either  come  himself  or  send  one  of  his 
men  to  kiss  his  stirrup.  At  last  monks  and  white-haired  bishops 
lost  all  patience.  Vassian  addressed  a  bellicose  letter  to  the 
Grand  Prince,  invoking  the  memories  of  Igor,  Sviatoslaf,  of 
Vladimir  Monomachus,  and  Dmitri  Donskoi.  Ivan  assured  him 
that  this  letter  "  filled  his  heart  with  joy,  courage,  and  strength  ; 
but  another  fortnight  passed  in  inaction.  On  the  fifteenth  day 
the  rivers  were  covered  with  ice  ;  the  Grand  Prince  gave  the 
order  to  retreat.  An  inexplicable  panic  seized  the  two  armies 
— Russians  and  Tatars  both  fled,  when  no  man  pursued.  The 
Khan  never  stopped  till  he  reached  the  Horde  (1480).  Such 
was  the  last  invasion  of  the  horsemen  of  the  Kiptchak.  It  was 
in  this  unheroic  way  that  Russia  broke  at  last  the  Mongol  yoke 
under  which  she  had  groaned  for  three  centuries.  Like  Louis 
XL,  Ivan  HI.  had  his  battle  of  Montlhe'ry  ;  but  if  he  fought  less, 
he  gained  far  more.  The  Horde,  attacked  by  the  Khans  of  the 
Crimea,  survived  its  decay  but  a  short  time.  Akhmet  was  put 
to  death  by  one  of  his  own  men. 

Hostility  increased  between  Kazan  and  Moscow.  In  1467 
and  1469  Ivan  HI.  had  organized  two  expeditions  against  Bul- 
garia. In  1487,  seven  3'ears  after  having  shaken  oiT  the  suprem- 
acy of  the  Great  Horde,  the  Muscovite  vo'ievodes  marched 
against  the  same  Kazan,  where  the  father  of  their  Grand  Prince 
had  been  held  a  captive.  After  a  siege  of  seven  weeks  the  citv 
was  taken,  and  the  sovereign  Alegam  made  prisoner.  A  tzar  of 
Kazan  was  then  seen  a  prisoner  in  Moscow  !  Ivan  IH.  added 
the  title  of  Prince  of  Bulgaria  to  those  he  already  bore  ;  but 
feeling  that  the  Mussulman  city  was  not  yet  ripe  for  annexation, 
he  gave  the  crown  to  a  nephew  of  his  friend  the  Khan  of  the 
Crimea.  The  people  were  foiced  to  take  the  oath  of  fidelity  to 
him.  The  conquest  of  the  land  of  Arsk,  in  Bulgaria  itself,  and 
the  establishment  of  a  Russian  garrison  in  the  fortress,  allowed 


iTf^  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSTA.  I  6q 

him  to  watch  from  close  by  all  that  passed  in  Kazan.  The  Khan 
of  the  Crimea  did  not  care  to  protest  against  the  captivity  of 
the  Tzar  Alegam,  his  nephew's  enemy,  but  the  princes  of  liie 
Chiban  and  the  Noga'is,  who  were  related  to  him,  and  who  be- 
held Islamism  humiliated  in  his  person,  despatched  an  embassy 
to  the  Grand  Prince.  The  latter  refused  to  release  his  prisoner, 
but  replied  so  graciously  that  the  envoys  could  hardly  be  angry. 
He  sent  to  those  zealous  kinsmen  clothes  of  Flanders,  fishes' 
teeth,  and  gerfalcons,  and  did  not  forget  the  wives  of  the  viour- 
zas,  whom  he  called  his  sisters.  At  the  same  time,  wishing  to 
make  these  Asiatics  feel  that  times  had  changed,  he  took  care 
never  personally  to  compromise  himself  with  the  Nogai  envovs, 
and  only  to  communicate  with  them  by  means  of  treasurers, 
secretaries,  and  other  officers  of  the  second  rank. 

WARS   WITH    LITHUANIA — WESTERN    RUSSIA   UP   TO   THE   SOJA   RE- 
CONQUERED. 

Lithuania  and  Poland  united  remained,  after  all,  Ivan's 
great  enemy.  This  composite  State  plays  the  same  part  in 
Russian  history  as  the  Burgundy  of  Philip  the  Good  and  Charles 
the  Bold  in  that  of  France.  Made  up  in  a  great  degree  of  Rus- 
sian as  well  as  of  Polish  and  Lithuanian  elements,  it  was  many 
times  on  the  point  of  annihilating  Russia,  in  the  same  way  as 
Burgundy,  composed  of  French,  Batavian,  and  German  prov- 
inces, had  been  on  the  point  of  annihilating  the  French  nation. 
Lithuania  was  incorporated  with  Poland  in  the  same  manner  as 
the  States  of  Burgundy,  unfortunately  for  France,  were  incor- 
porated with  Austria. 

At  the  beginning  of  Ivan's  reign  the  King  Casimir  IV.  was 
sovereign  of  tlie  two  united  States,  and  neglected  no  means  of 
disquieting  the  Grand  Prince.  The  latter,  on  his  part,  incited 
his  ally  Mengli  to  invade  the  Lithuanian  possessions  ;  and  the 
Crimean  Tatars  ]")illaged  Kief  and  the  Monastery  of  the  Cata- 
combs (1482).  When,  ten  years  after,  Casimir  died  (1492), 
leaving  Poland  to  his  eldest  son  Albert,  and  Lithuania  to  Alex- 
ander, the  second  son,  Ivan  III.  resolved  to  turn  the  division 
to  account.  He  had  obtained  the  friendship  of  the  Turkish 
Sultan  Bajazet  II.,  of  Matthias  Corvinus,  king  of  Hungarv,  of 
the  active  Stephen  of  Moldavia,  the  determined  enemy  of  the 
Lithuanians;  but,  above  all,  he  counted  on  Mengli.  Mengli  had 
held  Lithuania  in  check  while  Ivan  had  got  rid  of  the  Mongols  ; 
now  he  was  to  play  the  same  part  with  the  Horde,  while  the 
Grand  Prince  settled  old  scores  with  Alexander,  but  without  in- 
terfering with  the  Tatar  incursions  in  the  Ukraine,     The  dis- 


170 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


covery  at  Moscow  of  a  Polish  plot  against  the  life  of  the  Grand 
Prince  spread  rumors  of  war.  In  the  same  way  that  he  had 
been  able  to  utilize  the  Mongol  refugees  against  the  Horde,  he 
found  the  Lithuanian  princes  and  other  great  personages  enter- 
ing into  relations  with  him.  It  was  then  that  Belski,  afterwards 
50  famous,  obtained  a  footing  in  Russia,  that  the  Prince  of  Ma- 
zovia  sent  an  embassy  to  Ivan  III.,  and  the  princes  of  Viazma, 
Vorotinsk,  Belef,  and  Mezetsk  did  him  homage. 

The  war  was  popular  in  Moscow,  for  its  object  was  to  break 
the  yoke  imposed  by  the  Polish  Catholics  on  the  orthodox  Rus- 
sian people.  In  White  Russia  the  Muscovites  were  to  awake 
old  national  and  religious  sympathies.  "  Lithuania,"  said  the 
ambassadors  of  Ivan  III.  to  the  plenipotentiaries  of  Alexander, 
"Lithuania  has  profited  by  the  misfortunes  of  Russia  to  take 
our  territory,  but  to-day  things  have  changed."  Peace  was  made 
after  a  short  war  (1494).  The  frontier  of  Muscovy  was  carried 
to  the  Desna,  and  comprehended  the  appanages  of  the  princes 
who  had  taken  service  with  Ivan,  with  Mstislavl,  Obolensk, 
Kozelsk,  Vorotinsk,  Peremysl,  &c. 

The  peace  seemed  to  be  cemented  by  the  marriage  of  Alex- 
ander with  Helena,  daughter  of  Ivan  III.  ;  but,  on  the  contrary, 
this  union  proved  the  germ  of  a  new  war.  The  sovereign  of 
Moscow  had  stipulated  that  his  daughter  was  under  no  circum- 
stances to  change  her  religion,  that  she  was  to  have  a  Greek 
chapel  in  the  palace,  and  an  orthodox  almoner.  Ivan  himself 
gave  his  daughter  the  most  pressing  injunctions  never  to  appear 
in  the  Catholic  church,  and  gave  her  minute  directions  as  to  her 
toilet,  her  table,  her  mode  of  travelling,  and  her  way  of  con- 
ducting herself  towards  her  new  subjects.  At  her  departure  he 
bestowed  on  her  a  collection  of  various  pious  books.  His  policy 
agreed  with  his  conviction  :  it  was  necessarv  that  in  Lithuania 
orthodoxy  should  raise  her  lowered  head,  and  reign  with  his 
daughter.  Soon  afterwards,  he  complained  that  Helena  was 
forced  to  offend  her  conscience,  that  she  was  made  to  wear  the 
Polish  costume,  that  her  domestics  and  orthodox  almoners  were 
dismissed,  and  their  places  filled  with  Catholics — that  the  Greek 
religion  was  persecuted,  that  the  assassination  of  the  Metropoli- 
tan of  Kief  had  remained  unpunished,  and  that  he  was  to  be 
succeeded  by  a  man  devoted  to  the  Pope.  Lithuania,  at  the 
beginning  of  the  war,  was  further  enfeebled  by  new  defections. 
The  princes  'of  Pielsk,  of  Mossalsk,  of  Khotatof,  the  boyards 
of  Mtsensk  and  of  Serpeisk,  and  finally  the  princes  of  Tchtrni- 
gof  and  Starodoub,  of  Rylsk  and  Novgo-od-Severski,  declared 
for  the  Grand  Prince  of  Moscow.  All  the  country  between  the 
Desna  and  the  Soja  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  Russians,  to* 


.f /STORY  OF  KUSS/A. 


T71 


gether  with  Briansk,  Poutivle,  and  Dorogbouge.  They  hail  only 
to  show  themselves  to  conquer.  Alexander  could  not  abandon 
the  conquests  of  Olgerd,  Vitovt,  and  Gedimin  without  striking  a 
blow,  but  his  army  was  cut  to  pieces  at  the  battle  of  Vedroclia. 
Constantine  Ostrojski,  his  voievode,  fell  into  the  hands  of  tiie 
Muscovites,  who  tried  to  gain  him  over  to  their  cause.  The 
Lithuanians,  however,  kept  the  sirongiiolds  of  Vitepsk,  Poloisk, 
Orcha  and  Smolensk. 

This  prolonged  struggle  between  Alexander  and  Ivan  III. 
had  set  all  Eastern  Europe  in  a  blaze.  Alexander  had  made 
an  alliance  with  the  Livonian  Order  and  the  Great  Horde. 
The  Khan  of  the  Crimea  pitilessly  devastated  Gallicia  and 
Volhynia.  The  Russian  troops  again  defeated  the  Lithuanians 
near  Mstislavl,  but  were  forced  to  raise  the  siege  of  Smo- 
lensk. In  the  north,  the  Grand  Prince  of  Moscow  had 
stopped  the  Germans  of  Livonia  from  building  the  fortress  of 
Ivangorod  opposite  Narva,  and  had  seized  the  Hanseatic  wares 
at  Novgorod.  The  Grand  Master,  Hermann  of  Plettenberg,  re- 
sponded with  joy  to  the  appeal  of  the  Litinianians  ;  and  at  the 
battle  of  Siritsa,  near  Izborsk,  his  formidable  German  artillery 
crushed  an  army  of  40,000  Russians  (1501).  The  latter  took 
their  revenue  the  followins:  vear  on  the  iron  men  near  Pskof. 
Schig-Akhmet,  Kalm  of  the  Great  Horde,  wished  to  make  a 
diversion,  but  the  Khan  of  the  Crimea  attacked  him  with  fury, 
and  in  1502  so  completely  extinguished  his  rule,  that  the  ruins 
of  Sarai.  the  capital  of  Bati,  where  the  Russian  princes  had 
grovelled  before  the  khans,  were  henceforward  a  home  of 
serpents. 

Alexander  had  just  been  elected  King  of  Poland,  and  wished 
to  finish  this  ruinous  war.  The  celebrated  Pope,  Alexander 
VI.,  and  the  King  of  Hungary  tried  to  mediate  between  the  bel- 
ligerent powers.  As,  however,  neither  of  the  two  parties  would 
abate  any  of  their  pretensions,  a  truce  of  six  years  only  could 
be  agreed  on,  during  which  time  the  Soja  was  to  be  the  boun- 
dary, and  the  territories  and  towns  of  the  princes  who  had  gone 
over  to  Russia  were  to  be  abandoned  to  her  (1503).  What 
shows  the  good  faith  of  Ivan  III.  is  that,  after  the  truce  was 
signed,  he  obtained  the  promise  from  the  Khan  of  the  Crimea 
to  continue  his  attacks  against  Lithuania. 

MARRIAGE    WITH    SOPHIA    PAL.EOLOGUS    (1472) THE   GREEKS 

AND    ITALIANS    AT    THE    COURT    OF    iMOSCOW. 

The  acquisition  of  the  Novgorodian  possessions  and  the  ap- 
panages, the  capture  of  Kazan,  the  fall  of  the  Horde,  and  the 


1 7  2  HIS  TOR  Y  OF  RUS  ^14. 

conquest  of  Lithuania  up  to  the  Soja,  had  doubled  the  extent  of 
the  Grand  Principality,  even  without  reckoning  the  immense 
territory  it  had  gained  on  the  north.  An  event  not  less  impor- 
tant in  its  consequences  was  the  marriage  of  Ivan  III.  with  a 
Byzantine  princess,  Thomas  Palaeologus,  a  brother  of  the  last 
Emperor,  had  taken  refuge  at  the  court  of  Rome.  There  he 
died,  leaving  a  daughter  named  Sophia.  The  Pope  wished  to 
find  her  a  husband,  and  the  Cardinal  Bessarion,  who  belonged 
to  the  Eastern  Rite,  advised  Paul  II.  to  offer  her  hand  to  the 
Grand  Prince  of  Russia.  A  Greek  named  louri,  and  the  two 
Friazini,  relations  of  Friazine,  minter  of  Ivan  III.,  were  sent 
on  an  embassy  to  Moscow.  Ivan  and  his  boyards  accepted  the 
proposal  with  enthusiasm  ;  it  was  God,  no  doubt,  who  had  given 
him  so  illustrious  a  wife  ;  "  a  branch  of  the  imperial  tree  which 
formerly  overshadowed  all  orthodox  Christianity."  Sophia — 
dowered  by  the  Pope,  whose  heart  was  always  occupied  with 
two  things,  the  crusade  against  the  Turks,  and  the  re-union  of 
the  two  Churches  —went  from  Rome  to  Liibeck,  from  Liibeck 
by  sea  to  Revel,  and  was  received  in  triumph  at  Pskof,  Novgo- 
rod, and  the  other  towns  subject  to  Moscow.  This  daughter  of 
emperors  was  destined  to  have  an  enormous  influence  on  Ivan, 
It  was  she,  no  doubt,  who  taught  him  to  "  penetrate  the  secret 
of  autocracy."  She  bore  the  Mongol  yoke  with  J^ss  patience 
than  the  Russians,  who  were  accustomed  to  servitude.  She 
incited  Ivan  to  shake  it  off.  "  How  long  am  I  to  be.  the  slave 
of  the  Tatars  ?  "  she  would  often  ask.  Widi  Sophia  a  multitude" 
of  Greek  emigrants  came  to  Moscow,  not  only  from  Rome,  bu* 
from  Constantinople  and  Greece  ;  among  them  were  Demetrio' 
Ralo,  Theodore  Lascaris,  Demetrios  Trakhaniotes.  They  gav* 
to  Russia  statesmen,  diplomatists,  engineers,  artists  and  tt»eolo- 
gians.  They  brought  her  Greek  books,  the  priceless  inherit 
ance  of  ancient  civilization.  These  manuscripts  were  first  be 
ginnings  of  the  present  "  Library  of  the  Patriarchs." 

Ivan  III.  was  the  heir  of  the  Emperors  of  Byzantium  and 
the  Roman  Caesars.  He  took  for  the  new  arms  of  Russia  the 
two-headed  eagle  which  in  its  archaic  form  is  still  to  be  found 
in  the  "■  Palais  a  facettes  "  of  the  Kremlin.  Moscow  succeeded 
to  Byzantium  as  Byzantium  had  succeeded  to  Rome.  Having 
become  the  only  metropolis  of  orthodoxy,  it  was  incumbent  on 
her  to  protect  the  Greek  Christians  of  the  entire  East,  and  to 
prepare  the  revenge  against  Islamism  for  the  work  of  1453. 
With  the  Greeks  came  Italians  :  Aristotele  Fioraventi  of  Bologna, 
who  was  Ivan  III.'s  architect,  military  engineer,  and  master  of 
artillery  ;    Marco   Ruffo,   his    ambassador    in   Persia  ;    Pietro 


ITTSTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


173 


Antonio,  who  built  his  imperial  palace  ;  the  metal-founder,  Paul 
Bossio,  besides  architects  and  arquebusier.:. 

Ivan  entered  into  relations  with  Venice  when  Trevisani,  en- 
voy of  the  republic,  on  his  way  to  the  Horde,  tried  to  traverse 
incognito  the  States  of  the  Grand  Prince,  and  was  arrested  and 
condenuied  to  death.  The  Senate  interfered,  and  the  imprudent 
diplomatist  was  set  at  liberty.  Ivan  sent  in  his  turn  a  Russian 
ambassador,  Simeon  Tolbouzine,  charged  to  bind  the  two  coun 
tries  in  friendly  ties,  and  to  bring  back  some  skilful  architect 
from  Italy.  He  was  followed  in  1499  by  Demetrius  Ralo  and 
Golokhvastof.  Contarini,  the  Venetian  ambassador,  returned 
from  Persia  with  a  French  ecclesiastic  named  Louis,  who  called 
himself  envoy  of  the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  and  the  Patriarch  of 
Antioch.  He  stopped  at  Moscow,  and  was  kindly  received  by 
Ivan.  He  himself  was  much  struck  by  the  Grand  Prince.  "  \Mien, 
in  speaking,  1  respectfully  stepped  back,"  relates  Contarini, 
"the  Grand  Prince  always  drew  near,  and  gave  particular  at- 
tention to  my  remarks."  Ivan  III. — whether  to  secure  himself 
allies  against  Poland,  or  to  obtain  from  Germany  artists  and 
handicraftsmen  —  exchanged  more  than  one  embassy  with 
Frederic  III.  and  Maximilian  of  Austria,  Matthias  of  Hungary, 
and  the  Pope.  When  attacked  by  Sweden,  he  nogotiated  an 
alliance  with  Denmark.  Plehtche'ef  was  the  first  Russian  am- 
bassador at  Constantinople  under  Bajazet  II.  From  the  East 
came  envovs  of  Georgia  and  even  of  Djagatai  (Turkestan  and 
Tatar  Siberia). 

The  prince  who,  born  vassal  of  a  nomad  race,  founded  the 
greatness  of  Russia,  mav  be  comjjared  with  one  of  the  greatest 
of  French  kings,  Louis  XI.  What  the  latter  accomplished  in 
the  case  of  appanaged  feudalism,  Ivan  succeeded  in  doing  in 
that  of  appanaged  principalities.  He  was  pitiless  towards  the 
smaller  Russian  dynasties,  as  the  King  of  France  was  to  Armagnac 
or  Saint  Pol.  He  detached  a  slice  from  Lithuania,  as  his  Western 
contemporary  managed  to  dismember  Burgundy.  He  put  an 
end  to  the  Mongol  invasions,  as  Louis  did  to  the  English  wars. 
He  repulsed,  without  striking  a  blow,  the  last  incursion  of 'the 
khans,  as  Louis  XI.  sweetly  dismissed  the  last  embarkation  of 
the  English  under  Edward'  IV.  Both  had  the  same  taste  for 
foreigners,  especiallv  industrious  Italians,  and  for  useful  arts. 
Both  explored  the  metallic  riches  of  their  States.  They  each 
created  a  diplomacy;  the  one  by  means  of  Comynes,  the  other 
bv  means  of  Greeks,  and  Russians  as  supple  as  Greeks.  They 
strengthened  the  national  army,  and  gave  it  a  permanent  char- 
acter ;  they  both  owed  the  success  against  the  minor  princes  to 


174 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


their  artillery.  Ivan  III.  had  his  brothers  Bureau  in  Aristotele 
Fioraventi. 

Louis  XL,  who  wished  to  put  an  end  to  the  anarchy  of  the 
law  and  to  the  thefts  of  chicanery,  meditated  a  real  code,  or 
grand  costumier,  which  would  put  the  old  laws  in  harmony  with 
the  new  order  of  things.  This  is  precisely  what  Ivan  did  in  his 
Oulngenia  (1497).  In  comparing  it  with  the  Roiisska'ia  Pravda 
of  laroslaf,  we  are  able  to  gauge  the  amount  of  change  caused 
in  the  national  laws  by  the  influence  of  Byzantium,  the  example 
of  the  Tatars,  and  the  progress  of  autocracy.  Corporal  penalties 
have  notably  increased  :  for  homicide,  death  ;  for  theft,  whipping 
in  a  public  place.  Torture  was  making  its  way  in  the  procedure. 
The  judicial  duel  was  still  admitted,  only  now  it  could  hardly 
become  mortal ;  each  of  the  combatants  had  a  cuirass,  and  was 
armed  only  with  a  short  club.  Women,  minors,  and  ecclesiastics 
were  represented  by  a  champion.  In  the  same  way  as  the  end 
and  aim  of  the  policy  of  Ivan  was  the  suppression  of  appanages, 
that  of  his  code  was  to  efface  the  privileges,  the  legal  and  judi- 
cial peculiarities  of  the  different  provinces. 

For  three  generations  the  throne  had  been  inherited  in  the 
direct  line.  When,  however,  Ivan,  eldest  son  of  Ivan  III.,  died, 
the  latter  hesitated  long  between  his  grandson  Dmitri  Ivanovitch, 
and  his  second  son  Vassili.  His  wife  supported  Vassili  ;  his 
daughter-in-law  Helena,  Ivan's  widow,  her  own  son.  The  court 
was  divided,  and  both  parties  were  absorbed  in  their  intrigues. 
Ivan  III.  at  first  proclaimed  Dmitri,  threw  Vassili  in  prison, 
and  disgraced  his  wife.  Then  he  changed  his  mind,  imprisoned 
his  daughter-in-law  and  his  grandson  in  their  turn,  and  pro- 
claimed Vassili  his  heir.  The  hereditary  right  of  the  West  was 
not  established  in  T^^ussia  without  many  struggles. 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


ns 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

VASSILI  IVANOVITCH  (1505-1533). 

Reunion  of  Pskof,  Riazan,  and  Novgorod-Severski — Wars  with  Lithuania 
— Acc)uisition  of  Smolensk — Wars  with  the  Tatars — Diplomatic  relation? 
with  Europe. 


REUNION     OF    PSKOF,     RIAZAN,    AND     NOVGOROD-SEVERSKI — WARS 
WITH  LITHUANIA — ACQUISITION  OF  SMOLENSK. 

The  reign  of  Vassili  Ivanoviich  may  seem  somewhat  pale 
between  those  of  the  two  Ivans — the  two- "  7trr//'/<fj," — his 
father  and  son.  It  was  likewise  of  shorter  duration,  lasting  only 
twenty-eight  years  (1505-1533),  but  was  the  continuation  of  the 
one,  and  the  preparation  for  the  other :  the  movement  which 
was  bearing  Russia  towards  unity  and  autocracy  was  not  re- 
tarded under  Vassili  Ivanovitch. 

There  were  still  three  Stales  which  had  preserved  a  certain 
independence — the  Republic  of  Pskof,  and  the  Principalities  of 
Riazan  and  Novgorod-Severski.  The  quarrels  still  continued  at 
Pskof  between  the  citizens  and  the  peasants,  the  aristocracy  and 
the  lower  classes.  The  whole  of  Pskof  was  in  conflict  with  her 
navicistnik,  or  the  roval  lieutenant.  Vassili  came  to  hold  his 
court  at  Novgorod,  and  summoned  the  magistrates  of  Pskof  to 
appear  before  him.  When  they  arrived,  he  arrested  them.  A 
merchant  of  Pskof,  who  was  on  his  way  to  Novgorod,  returned 
with  the  news  to  his  compatriots.  Instantly  the  bell  of  the 
vetche  began  to  ring,  and  the  cry  was  heard,  "Let  us  raise  the 
shield  against  the  Grand  Prince.  Let  us  shut  the  gates  of  the 
town."  The  more  prudent  tried  to  restrain  the  people.  "What 
can  we  do  1  Our  brothers,  our  magistrates,  our  boyards,  and  all 
our  chief  men  are  in  the  hands  of  the  Prince."  The  imprisoned 
Pskovians  sent  a  messenger  to  implore  their  fellow-citizens  not 
to  attempt  a  useless  resistance,  and  to  avoid  the  shedding  of 
blood.  The  latter  then  despatched  one  of  their  number  to  the 
Grand  Prince,  and  charged  him  to  say,  "  My  lord,  we  are  not 
your  enemies.     After  God,  it  is  you   that  have  power  over  aU 


176  HIS  TOR  Y  OF  RUSSIA. 

your  subjects."  Vassili  Ivanovitch  sent  them  one  of  his  diaks^ 
or  secretaries,  who  was  admitted  into  the  assembly  of  the  citi- 
zens, saluted  them  in  the  name  of  the  Grand  Prince,  and  informed 
them  that  his  master  imposed  on  them  two  conditions  :  the  first 
was  that  the  towns  subject  to  Pskof  should  receive  his  vianiest- 
niks  ;  the  second  was  the  suppression  of  the  vetche  and  its  bell. 
For  a  long  while  they  could  give  him  no  answer — their  sobs  and 
tears  choked  them.  At  last  they  demanded  twenty-four  hours 
to  deliberate.  The  day  and  night  passed  in  lamentations. 
"  The  infants  at  the  breast,"  says  the  annalist,  "  alone  could  re- 
frain from  tears."  Next  day  the  people  met  for  the  last  time, 
and  the  first  magistrate  of  the  city  thus  spoke  to  Dalmatof,  diak 
of  the  Grand  Prince  :  "  It  is  written  in  our  Chronicles  that  our 
ancestors  took  oaths  to  the  Grand  Prince.  The  Pskovians  swore 
never  to  rebel  against  our  lord  who  is  at  Moscow,  never  to  ally 
themselves  with  Lithuania,  with  Poland,  nor  with  the  Germans, 
otherwise  the  wrath  of  God  would  be  upon  them,  bringing  with 
it  famine,  fires,  floods,  and  the  invasion  of  the  infidels.  If  the 
Grand  Prince,  on  his  part,  did  not  observe  his  vow,  he  dared  the 
same  consequences.  Now  our  town  and  our  bell  are  in  the 
power  of  God  and  the  prince.  As  for  us,  we  have  kept  our 
oath."  Dalmatof  had  the  great  bell,  symbol  of  the  independence 
of  the  republic,  taken  down,  and  carried  to  Novgorod,  amid  the 
general  despair.  Then  Vassili  Ivanovitch  came  to  visit  his  "  pat- 
rimony of  Pskof."  He  installed  his  men  and  boyards  in  the 
npper  town,  transplanted  300  families  of  the  aristocracy  into  the 
cities  of  the  interior,  and  established  300  Muscovite  families  in 
their  place.  When  he  went  away,  he  left  a  garrison  of  5000 
dic'tiboyarskie,  and  500  Novgorod  artillerymen  (15 10).  "Alas  !  " 
cries  the  annalist,  "  glorious  city  of  Pskof  the  Great,  wherefore 
this  lamentation  and  tears  ? "  And  the  noble  city  of  Pskof 
replies  :  "  How  can  I  but  weep  and  lament  ?  An  eagle,  a  many- 
winged  eagle,  with  claws  like  a  lion,  has  swooped  down  upon 
me.  He  has  taken  captive  the  three  cedars  of  Lebanon — my 
beauty,  my  riches,  my  children  !  Our  land  is  a  desert,  our  city 
ruined,  our  commerce  destroyed.  Our  brothers  have  been  car- 
ried away  to  a  place  where  our  fathers  never  dwelt,  nor  our 
grandfathers,  nor  our  great-grandfathers." 

Ivan,  prince  of  Riazan,  was  accused  about  1521  of  having 
made  an  alliance  with  the  Khan  of  the  Crimea.  He  was  sum- 
moned to  Moscow,  and  imprisoned.  He  managed  to  escape  into 
Lithuania,  where  he  died  in  obscurity.  This  fertile  countr\-, 
whose  rich  harvests  "looked  like  waving  forests,"  was  united  to 
the  Grand  Principality.  A  certain  number  of  Riazanese  were 
transported  to  Muscovite   soil.     Vassili  Chemiakine   reigned  at 


TIISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


177 


Novgorod-Severski ;  he  was  tlie  grandson  of  the  Chemiaka  who 
had  put  out  the  eyes  of  Vassili  Vassilidvitch.  About  1523  he 
was  thrown  into  prison,  on  the  accusation  of  an  understanding 
with  Pohmd,  where  he  died,  'i'here  was  now  only  one  Russia. 
A  jester  of  the  Grand  Prince  had  predicted  the  fall  of  the  last 
appanaged  prince.  He  had  gone  through  the  streets  of  Moscow 
armed  willi  a  broom,  crying  "that  it  was  time  to  clean  tiie  em- 
pire of  what  remained  of  this  ordure."  Vassili,  like  the  most  of 
liis  predecessors,  had  little  tenderness  for  his  family.  His 
nephew  Dmitri,  whom  his  grandfather  had  for  a  moment  des- 
tined to  occupy  the  throne,  and  who  by  Western  laws  was  the 
rightful  heir,  died  in  prison.  One  of  Vassili's  brothers,  feeling 
the  yoke  press  too  heavily  on  him,  tried  to  escape,  but  was 
brought  back. 

The  son  of  Ivan  the  Great  continued  the  struggle  with 
Lithuania.  He  had  attempted,  at  the  death  of  Alexander,  to 
get  himself  nominated  Grand  Prince  of  Wilna,  and  the  recon- 
ciliation of  Muscovite  and  Lithuanian  Russia  would  have 
changed  the  destinies  of  the  North.  Sigismond  L  reunited  the 
two  crowns  of  Wilna  and  Poland.  An  unimportant  war  ended 
in  1506  bv  a  "perpetual  peace,"  and  Vassili  renounced  all 
claims  on  Kief  and  Smolensk.  The  perpetual  peace  lasted  three 
years,  which  were  filled  by  the  recriminations  of  the  two  parties, 
Vassili  accused  Sigismond  of  never  having  sent  back  all  the 
prisoners,  of  pillaging  the  Muscovite  merchants,  of  maltreating 
the  widow  of  Alexander,  daughter  of  Ivan  III.;  of  tempting 
Simeon,  Vassili's  brother,  to  fly  to  Poland  ;  and  of  inciting  the 
Crimean  Tatars  to  ravage  Russia.  Pie  declared  that  "  as  long 
as  his  horse  was  in  marching  condition,  and  his  sword  cut  sharp, 
there  should  be  neither  peace  nor  truce  with  Lithuania." 
Smolensk  was  instantly  attacked  ;  part  of  her  inhabitants  were 
on  the  side  of  Russia,  and  offered  to  submit  to  the  Grand  Prince. 
A  volley  of  artillery  knocked  down  the  ramparts  of  her  Kremlin, 
which  towers  over  the  Dnieper.  The  Polish  voievode  was  com- 
pelled by  the  people  to  capitulate.  "  Spare  your  patrimony." 
said  they  to  the  Grand  Prince.  The  Bishop  of  Smolensk  blessed 
Vassili,  and  the  inhabitants  took  the  oaths  of  fidelity  to  him 
(1514),  "  The  taking  of  Smolensk,"  says  a  Russian  chronicler, 
'•  was  like  a  brilliant  fete-day  for  Russia  ;  for  the  capture  of  the 
property  of  another  can  only  flatter  an  ambitious  prince,  but  to 
gain  possession  of  what  is  one's  own  is  ever  a  cause  of  joy." 
Many  of  the  Lithuanians,  however,  remained  undecided  ;  the 
name  of  Russia  and  of  orthodoxy  brought  them  into  communion 
with  Moscow,  but  the  Muscovites  appeared  very  barbarous  by 
the  side  of  the  Poles,  and  their  turbulent  nobility  were   better 


i-> 


lyg  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

suited  to  Polish  anarchy  than  to  Russian  autocracy.  A  Glinski^ 
one  of  a  Podolian  family,  who  went  over  to  VassiU  at  this  time, 
played  the  traitor.  Constantine  Ostrojski,  whom  VassiU  had 
tried  to  gain  over  to  the  "cause  of  orthodoxy,  fled  from  Moscow  : 
and  it  was  he  who,  in  1514,  inflicted  on  the  Russian  voiievodes 
the  bloody  defeat  of  Orcha.  "  The  next  day,"  says  Karamsin, 
"he  celebrated  the  victory  that  he  had  won  over  a  people  of 
the  same  religion  as  himself,  and  it  was  in  the  Russian  tongue 
that  he  gave  thanks  to  God  for  having  destroyed  the  Russians." 
Even  the  contemporaries  felt  vaguely  that  a  struggle  between 
Lithuanian  Russia  and  Moscow  was  a  kind  of  civil  war.  Had 
hot  VassiU  tried  to  unite  the  two  principalities  ? 

As  in  the  time  of  Ivan  III.,  the  duel  of  the  two  States  made 
itself  felt  throughout  Europe,  and  occasioned  a  great  diplo- 
matic movement.  Now,  Sigismond  had  the  Tatars  of  the  Crimea 
on  his  side  ;  VassiU  opposed  them  with  the  Tatars  of  Astra- 
khan. Sigismond  reckoned  on  Sweden.  Vassili  negotiated  with 
Denmark.  The  King  had  gained  over  to  his  cause  the  Dnieper 
Cossacks,  whose  name  already  began  to  be  heard  in  history,  and 
who  had  been  powerfully  organized  by  Dachkovitch.  But  Vassili 
secured  the  friendship  of  the  Teutonic  Order,  who  even  con- 
sented to  invade  Polish  Prussia  ;  of  Maximilian  of  Austria,  who 
signed  a  treaty  of  partition  of  the  Polish  territory;  of  the  Hos- 
podar  of  Wallachia ;  and  finally  of  the  Sultan  Selim,  to  whom  he 
sent  embassy  after  embassy.  Negotiations  were  set  on  foot  in 
consequence  of  the  defeat  of  Constantine  Ostrojski  before 
Smolensk,  in  the  battle  of  Opotchka.  Maximilian  of  Austria 
undertook  the  office  of  mediator  ;  his  ambassador,  Herberstein, 
the  same  who  has  left  us  the  curious  book  entitled  '  Rerum 
Moscovitarum  Commentarii,'  promised  that  VassiU  should  cede 
Smolensk,  and  quoted  to  him  the  disinterestedness  of  King 
Pyrrhus  and  other  great  men  of  antiquity.  Pope  Leo  X.  inter- 
vened without  greater  success,  though  he  counselled  Vassili  to 
leave  Lithuania  alone,  and  to  turn  his  thoughts  to  Constantinople, 
the  inheritance  of  his  mother,  Sophia  Pal?eologus.  At  last  in 
1522,  the  negotiations  opened  and  terminated  in  the  truce  of 
1526.  Vassili  pronounced  a  discourse  on  the  subject,  in  which 
he  expressed  his  friendship  for  his  noble  mediators,  the  Pope, 
the  pjnperor,  and  the  Archduke  of  Austria  (Clement  VII.,  Charles 
v.,  and  Ferdinand),  but  Russia  kept  Smolensk. 

WARS    Wn-H    THE    TATARS — DIPLOMATIC  RELATIONS    WITH  EUROPE. 

The  Tatars  were  still  dangerous.    Mengli-Ghirei,  the  ancient 
ally  of  Ivan  III.,  had  declared  for  Lithtiania  against  Vassili 


HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA .  179 

Perhaps  the  old  Khan  might  have  lost  the  authority  necessary 
to  restrain  his  sons  and  mourzas,  who  only  wished  to  pillage  the 
Russian  teriiiory.  Under  his  successor,  Makhmet  Ghirei,  the 
Crimea  became  a  deadly  enemy  of  Russia.  Kazan,  on  expelling 
the //'6'/t'^''t' of  Ivan  111.,  had  elected  a  prince  hoslile  to  Moscow. 
Two  expeditions  directed  against  the  rebel  city  failed  completely. 
At  llie  death  of  the  Tzar  of  Kazan,  the  principality  became  the 
apple  of  discord  between  the  Khan  of  the  Crimea  and  the 
Grand  Prince.  The  Russians,  however,  had  succeeded,  and 
installed  their  client,  Schig-Alei,  a  Mussulman  brutalized  by  idle- 
ness and  pleasures,  whose  enormous  stomach  gave  him  a  gro- 
tesque appearance  ;  but  he  was  overthrown  by  the  intrigues  of  the 
Khan  of  the  Crimea,  and  a  kinsman  of  the  Ghirei  was  placed  on 
the  throne.  In  support  of  their  candidate,  tiie  Taurians  pre- 
pared, in  1521,  a  great  invasion  of  Russia.  They  crushed  the 
Russian  voievodes  on  the  banks  of  the  Oka,  ravaged  the  Grand 
Principality,  looked  on  Moscow  from  the  Hill  of  Sparrows,- and 
made  themselves  drunk  with  hydromel  found  in  the  cellars  of 
the  Grand  Prince.  At  the  Kremlin  there  was  a  formidable  array 
of  artillery,  but  no  powder.  Herberstein  assures  us  that  the 
powerful  son  of  Ivan  III.  humiliated  himself,  as  in  the  time  of 
Ivan  Kalita,  to  save  his  capital,  sent  presents  to  the  Khan,  and 
signed  a  treaty  by  which  he  professed  himself  his  tributary  ;  but 
that  in  his  retreat,  Makhmet  Ghirei  was  received  with  cannon- 
balls  by  the  voi'evode  of  Riazan,  who  took  from  him  the  humiliat- 
ing treaty.  Though  the  Russian  honor  was  saved  by  the  can- 
nonade of  Riazan,  this  invasion  cost  Russia  dear.  All  the  flat 
country  was  a  prey  to  the  flames.  A  multitude  of  people,  es- 
pecially women  and  children,  had  been  carried  off  by  the  bar- 
iDarians.  Many  perished  on  the  journey  ;  the  rest  were  sold^  in 
whole  troops  in  the  markets  of  Kaffa  and  Astrakhan.  The 
following  year  Vassili  assembled  on  the  Oka  a  formidable  army, 
with  an  imposing  artillery,  and  sent  a  challenge  to  the  Khan  of  the 
Crimea  summoning  him  to  accept  an  honorable  fight  in  the  open 
country.  The  Tatar  answered  that  he  knew  the  way  to  Russia, 
and  never  consulted  his  enemies  as  to  when  he  was  to  fight.  A 
short  time  after,  Makhmet  conquered  the  Tzarate  of  Astrakhan, 
but  was  assassinated  by  Mamai,  Prince  of  the  Noga'is. 

The  Tatars  of  the  Crimea  were,  thanks  to  the  vast  southern 
steppes,  nearly  beyond  Russian  enterprises ;  but  it  was  still 
possible  to  attain  Kazan.  In  order  to  profit  by  the  dissensions 
of  the  Hordes  of  the  South,  two  new  expeditions  were  fitted  out 
in  1523  and  1524  against  this  town,  but  both  were  unsuccessful. 
Vassili  discovered  a  more  certain  way  of  ruining  his  enemies — he 
established  a  fair  at  Mak^rief  on  the  Volga,  and  by  this  mean^ 


IffO 


HISTORy  OF  RUSSIA. 


destroyed  that  of  Kazan.  It  was  this  fair  of  Makarief  that  was 
afterwards  transported  to  Nijni-Novgorod,  and  draws  more  than 
100,000  strangers  from  Europe  and  Asia. 

Day  by  day  Russia  took  a  more  important  place  in  Europe. 
Vassili  exchanged  embassies  with  all  the  sovereigns  of  the  West, 
except  those  of  France  and  England.  He  was  the  correspon- 
dent of  Leo  X.  and  Clement  VII. ;  of  Maximilian  and  Charles 
V.  ;  of  Gustavus  Vasa,  founder  of  a  new  dynasty  ;  of  Sultan  Selim, 
conqueror  of  Egypt ;  and  of  Suleiman  the  Magnificent.  In  the 
East,  the  Great  Mogul  of  India,  Baber,  descendant  of  Tamerlane, 
sought  his  friendship.  Autocracy  daily  became  stronger. 
Vassili  governed  without  consulting  his  council  of  boyards. 
"  Moltchi  smcrd!"  (Be  silent,  rustic  !)  he  said  one  day  to  a 
great  lord,  who  dared  to  raise  an  objection.  Prince  Vassili 
Kholmaski,  who  was  married  to  one  of  his  sisters,  was  thrown 
into  prison  for  indocility.  The  boyard  Beklemychef  having 
complained  that  "  the  Grand  Prince  decided  all  the  questions 
alone,  shut  up,  with  two  others,  in  his  bed-chamber,"  had  his 
head  cut  off.  The  Metropolitan  Varlaam  was  deposed  and  ban- 
ished to  a  monastery.  Herberstein  asserts  already,  that  no 
European  sovereign  is  obeyed  like  the  Grand  Prince  of  Moscov/. 
This  growing  power  was  manifested  externally  by  the  splendor 
of  the  court,  which  naturally  did  not  preclude  the  worst  barbaric 
taste.  In  the  reception  of  his  ambassadors,  Vassili  displayed 
unheard-of  luxury  ;  many  hundreds  of  horsemen  accompanied 
him  when  he  hunted.  The  throne  of  the  Prince  was  guarded 
by  young  nobles,  the  ryndis,  with  their  head-dresses  of  high  caps 
of  white  fur,  dressed  in  long  caftans  of  white  satin,  armed  with 
silver  hatchets.  The  lists  of  his  masters  of  the  horse,  his  cup- 
bearers, chamberlains,  &c.,  are  already  very  long.  Strangers 
continued,  though  in  small  numbers,  to  come  to  Moscow.  The 
most  illustrious  of  them  was  Maximus,  surnamed  the  Greek,  a 
monk  of  Mount  Athos,  and  a  native  of  Arta,  in  Albania.  In  his 
youth  he  had  studied  at  Venice  and  at  Florence,  and  been  the 
friend  of  Lascaris  and  Aldus  Manutius.  He  had  remained  the 
sincere  admirer  of  Savonarola.  Vassili  had  sent  for  him  with 
other  Greeks  to  translate  the  Greek  books  into  Slavonic,  and 
put  his  library  in  order.  Maximus  is  said  to  have  been  astonished 
to  find  in  the  Kremlin  such  a  large  number  of  ancient  manu- 
scripts ;  he  vowed  that  neither  Italy  nor  in  Greece  was  to  be 
found  such  a  rich  collection.  After  having  finished  the  trans- 
lation of  the  Psalter,  he  wished  to  return  to  Mount  Athos 
Vassili  retained  him,  made  him  liis  favorite,  and  often  granted 
him  the  lives  of  condemned  boyards.  His  works,  his  science, 
as  well  as  his  favor,  gained  him  the  hatred  of  ignorant  and  fan- 


HISTOR  V  OF  RUSSIA.  , «  x 

atical  monks.  The  Metropolitan  Daniel  declared  against  him. 
When  Vassili  repudiated  against  her  will  his  wife  Solomonia, 
because  of  her  sterility,  the  philosopher^  it  seems,  ventured  to 
blame  the  prince,  who  then  abandoned  him  to  his  enemies. 
Denounced  before  an  ecclesiastical  tribunal,  accused  of  heresy 
and  of  false  interpretation  of  the  sacred  books,  he  was  banished 
\o  a  monastery  at  Tver.  Later  he  obtained  leave  to  retire  to  that 
of  Troitsa,  where  there  is  still  shown  the  tomb  of  the  man  who 
was,  in  Russia,  one  of  the  apostles  of  the  Renaissance. 


x62  HISTOR  y  OF  R  USSiA. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

IVAN  THE  TERRIBLE  (1533-1584.) 

Minority  of  Ivan  IV. — He  takes  the  title  of  Tzar  (1547) — Conquest  of  Kazan 
(1552),  and  of  Astraklian  (1554) — Contests  with  the  Livonian  Order,  Po- 
land, the  Tatars,  Sweden,  and  the  Russian  aristocracy — The  English  in 
Russia — Conquest  of  Siberia. 


MINORITY  OF   IVAN  IV. — HE  TAKES  THE  TITLE  OF  TZAR  (1547). 

The  role  and  the  character  of  Ivan  IV.  have  been  and  still  are 
very  differently  estimated  by  Ri:ssian  historians.  Karamsin,  who 
has  not  subjected  to  a  criticism  sufficiently  severe  the  narratives 
and  documents  from  which  he  has  drawn  his  information,  has 
seen  in  him  a  prince  who  was  born  cruel  and  vicious,  but  was 
miraculously  brought  back  into  the  paths  of  virtue.  Under  the 
guidance  of  two  excellent  ministers  he  gave  some  years  of 
repose  to  Russia  ;  then  abandoning  himself  to  his  passions — 
astounded  Europe  and  the  empire  with  what  the  historian  calls 
the  "  seven  periods  of  massacres."  M.  Kostomarof  supports  the 
verdict  of  Karamsin.  Another  school  represented  by  M.  Solovief 
^nd  M.  Zabieline,  has  shown  more  mistrust  of  the  partial  accounts 
•»i  Kourbski,  leader  of  the  oligarchic  party,  of  Guagnini,  courtier 
of  the  King  of  Poland,  of  Taube  and  Kruse,  traitors  to  the  so\'- 
ereign  whom  they  served.  Above  all,  they  have  taken  into  con- 
sideration the  time  and  the  environment  of  Ivan  the  Terrible. 
This  party  concerns  itself  less  with  his  morality  as  an  individual, 
than  with' the  part  he  played  as  the  agent  of  the  historical  devel- 
opment of  Russia.  Did  not  the  French  historians  for  a  while 
refuse  to  recognize  the  immense  services  rendered  by  Louis  XI. 
in  the  great  work  of  consolidating  the  unity  of  France,  and  the 
creation  of  a  modern  State  .?  He  has  been  justified  at  last  by 
an  attentive  examination  of  documents  and  facts. 

At  the  time  that  Ivan  IV,  succeeded  his  father,  the  struggle 
of  the  central  power  with  the  forces  of  the  past  had  changed  its 
character.  The  old  Russian  States  which  had  for  so  long  held 
in  check  the  new  power  of  Moscow — the  principalities  of  Tver. 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA.  183 

Riazan,  Souzdal  and  Novgorod-Severski — and  the  republics  of 
Novgorod,  Pskof,  and  Viatka,  had  lost  their  independence; 
tiirir  possessions  had  gone  to  swell  those  of  Moscow.  All  North 
md  East  Russia  is  now  united  under  the  sceptre  of  the  Grand 
i^rmce.  To  the  perpetual  contests  with  Tver,  Riazan,  and  Nov- 
gorod succeed  the  great  foreign  wars ;  the  crusades  against 
Litiuiania,  the  Tatars,  the  Swedes,  the  Livcnian  knights. 

Precisely    because    the    work   of    Great    Russian    unity    was 
accomplished,  the  internal    resistance   to    the  authority   of  the 
Prince    became    stronger.     The     descendants   of   the    princely 
tarn. lies  which  had  been  dispossessed  by  money  or  force  of  arms, 
and  the  letainers  of  these  ancient  reigning  houses,  enlisted  in 
die  service  of  the  master  of  Moscow,     The  Court  of  the  latter 
.vas  full  of    uncrowned   nobles,    Belskis,   Choui'skis,   Kourbskis, 
V^orcjtinskis,  descendants  of  the  appanaged  princes,  proud  of  the 
olood  of  Rurik  which  ran  in  their  veins.     Others  sprang  from 
Gedimin,  the  Lithuanian,  or  from  baptized  Tatar  7nourzas.     All 
these,  as  well  as  the    powerful    boyards  of  Tver,  Riazan,    and 
Novgorod,    became   the  boyards  of  the    Grand  Prince.     There 
was  uniy  one  Court  for  all  to  serve — that  of  Moscow.     When 
Russia  was  divided  into  sovereign  States,  discontented  boyards 
were  free  to  change  their  master,  to  pass  from  the  service  of 
Tchernigof  to  that  of  Kief,  or  from  the  service  of  Souzdal  to  that 
of  Novgorod.    Now,  where  could  they  go?     Outside  of  Moscow- 
there  was  nothing  but  foreign  sovereigns,  the  enemies  of  Russia. 
To  make  use  of  the  ancient  right  of  changing  your  master,  was  to 
pass  over  to  the  enemy  to  be  a  traitor.     To  change   and  betray 
became  synonyms.     From   the   Russian  word /bw/////(change)  is 
derived  the  word  iz7nie'nik  (to  betray).     The  Russian  boyard  could 
go  neither  to  the  Germans,  to  the  Swedes,  nor  to  the  Tatars  ;  he 
could  only  go  to  the  Grand  Duke  of  Lithuania,  but  that  was  ex- 
actly the  worst  sort  of   change  the  blackest   of  treasons.     The 
Prince  of  Moscow  knew^  well  that  the  war  with  Lithuania — that 
State  wiiich  was  Polish  in  the  west,  and  exercised,  by  means  of 
its  Russian  provinces  in  the  east,  a  dangerous  fascination  on  the 
subjects  of   Moscow — was  a  struggle  for  existence.     Litliuanin, 
was  an  internal  as  well  as  an  external  enemy,  with  links  and  svni- 
patiiies  with  the  heart  of  the  Russian   State,  even   in  the  palace 
of  the  Tzar  himself,  and  lier  formidable  hand  is  found  in  all  in- 
trigues and  conspiracies.     The  external  struggle  with  Lithuania, 
and  the  internal  struggle  with  the  Russian  oligarchy,  are  different 
phases  of  the  same  contest,  the   heaviest  and  most  perilous  of 
all    sustained  by  the  Grand   Princes  of   Moscow.     The   dispos- 
sessed princes,  the  boyards  of  the  ancier.    independent    States, 
had  renounced  the  strife    with  ^jim  on  the    Laitlc-field,  but  they 


•J^g4  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

continued  to  combat  his  authority  in  his  own  Court.  There  are 
no  more  wars  of  States  against  State  ;  henceforth  the  war  is 
intestine,  that  of  oligarchy  against  autocracv.  Resigned  to 
being  sovereign  princes  no  longer,  the  boyard  princes  oi 
Moscow  were  not  yet  content  to  be  only  subjects.  The  nar- 
rower area  intensified  the  violence  of  the  contest.  The  Court 
of  Moscow  was  a  fenced-in  field,  from  which  none  could  go 
out  without  changing  the  Muscovite  for  the  Lithuanian  master 
— without  betraying.  Hence  the  passionate  character  of  the 
struggle  between  the  two  principles  under  Ivan  IV.  Besides, 
the  sovereigns  of  Moscow  who  had  destroyed,  after  so  many 
efforts,  the  Russian  States  that  held  Moscow  in  check,  com- 
mitted the  same  fault  as  the  Capetians  or  the  early  Valois.  In 
constituting  appanages  for  the  younger  branches,  they  built  up 
with  one  hand  what  they  pulled  down  with  the  other ;  to  the  sov- 
ereign princes  of  the  nth  century  succeeded  the  princes  of  the 
blood  the  appanaged  princes  of  the  15th  and  i6th  centuries. 
These  also  had  their  domain,  &c.,  their  boyards,  their  dieti  boy- 
rtTj/C'/V  (men-at-arms.)  They  were  the  brothers,  uncles,  cousins  of 
the  Grand  Prince,  who  became  the  chiefs  of  the  vanquished 
oligarchy  and  organized  the  coalition  of  the  forces  of  the  past 
against  him.  They  stood  to  him  as  the  Capetians  of  Burgundy, 
Berri,  Bourbon,  and  Orleans,  stood  to  the  Capetian  kings, 
Charles  Nil.,  Louis  XL,  and  Charles  VIII. 

Vassili  Ivanovitch  left  two  sons,  Ivan  and  louri,  under  the 
guardianship  of  his  second  wife,  Helena  Glinski.  She  had  come 
into  Russia  with  a  family  of  Podolian  nobles,  jDroscribed  by  Sig- 
ismond,  and  accused  of  having  plotted  against  his  life.  Helena 
Glinski  had  subdued  her  old  husband  Vassili,  not  only  by  her 
beauty,  but  by  her  free  and  attractive  manners,  an  independence 
of  spirit  and  character,  and  a  variety  of  accomplishments  not  t(j 
be  found  among  the  Russian  women  of  that  dav,  condemned  as 
they  were  to  seclusion.  She  was  almost  a  Western.  Vassili 
was  able  to  leave  her,  on  his  death-bed,  with  the  guardianship 
of  her  sons,  and  the  care  of  strengthening  his  work  and  that  of 
his  ancestors.  This  energetic  woman  knew  how  to  put  down  all 
attempts  of  princely  and  oligarchic  reaction  against  the  autoc- 
racv of  the  Grand  Prince.  One  of  her  husband's  brothers, 
louri  Ivanovitch,  convicted  of  rebellion,  was  thrown  into  prison, 
where  he  died.  Helena's  own  uncle,  Michael  Glinski,  an  am- 
bitious and  turbulent  Podolian,  after  having  enjoyed  her  confi- 
dence for  some  time,  was  likewise  arrested  and  died  in  confine- 
ment. Andrew  Ivanovitch,  another  brother  of  the  late  Tzai, 
tried  to  escape  into  Poland  to  obtain  the  support  of  Sigismond  ; 
he   was  stopped  on  the  way,   and   imprisoned.      Lithuania  at 


HISTOR  V  OF  RUSSIA.  185 

tempted  to  come  to  his  aid,  by  taking  up  arms  for  the  rebels  of 
the  interior.  This  unimportant  war  was  ended  in  1537  by  a 
truce.  I'he  Tatars  of  Kazan  and  the  Crimea  suffered  many  de- 
feats;  and  to  phice  Moscow  beyond  the  possibility  of  being 
seized  by  a  coup  de  main,  Helena  enclosed  with  ramparts  the 
quarter  known  by  the  name  of  Katai-gorod.  As  she  could  not 
entirelv  rely  either  on  the  boyards  or  on  the  princes,  nor  even 
on  her  own  relations,  she  gave  all  her  confidence  to  the  master 
of  the  horse,  Telepnef,  whom  the  public  voice  charged  with 
belnfr  her  lover.  A  frovernment  as  energetic  against  its  internal 
as  against  its  foreign  enemies,  gave  little  satisfaction  to  the  oli- 
garchic party.      In  1538  Helena  died,  the  victim  of  poison. 

The  boyards  then  took  possession  of  the  government,  after 
having  put  to  death  the  master  of  the  horse,  and  imprisoned  his 
sister  Agrafena,  Ivan's  nurse.  The  chief  power  w^as  disputed 
specially  by  two  families — the  Chouiskis  and  the  Belskis, 
Russia  became  a  prey  to  anarchy,  the  governments  and  the 
voievodies  were  given  by  turns  to  the  creatures  of  these  two 
families,  and  the  people  were  cruelly  oppressed ;  the  two- 
factions  even  elevated  and  deposed  at  will  the  Metropolitan  of 
Moscow.  At  last,  Andrew  Chouiski  overthrew  the  government 
of  the  Belskis,  and  finally  deposed  the  Metropolitan. 

Whilst  the  nobles  were  thus  intriguing  for  the  supreme 
power,  Vassili's  two  sons  were  left  by  themselves.  louri,  the 
younger,  was  feeble  in  intellect,  but  Ivan,  like  Peter  the  Great, 
whom  in  many  points  he  resembled,  was  a  highly-gifted  boy. 
He  suffered  keenly  from  the  contemi^t  in  which  his  turbulent 
subjects  held  him.  "We  and  our  brother  louri,"  he  afterwards 
writes,  "  were  treated  like  foreigners,  like  the  children  of  beg- 
gars. We  were  ill-clothed,  we  were  cold  and  hungry."  They 
saw  the  boyards  pillage  the  treasures  and  luxurious  furniture  of 
the  palace  ;  Chouiski  even  threw  himself  in  Ivan's  presence  on 
the  bed  of  the  late  Tzar.  The  empire  was  plundered  as  well  as 
the  palace.  "They  wandered  everywhere,"  continues  Ivan  IV., 
"in  the  towns  and  villages,  cruelly  tormenting  the  people,  in- 
flicting all  kinds  of  evils  on  them,  exacting  fines  without  mercy 
from  the  inhabitants.  Of  our  subjects  they  have  made  tluir 
slaves;  of  their  slaves,  the  nobles  of  the  Sta'te."  He  had  seen 
all  whom  he  loved  torn  from  him — his  nurse  Agrafena  ;  the 
master  of  the  horse,  Telepnef,  who  had  been  put  to  death  ;  and 
his  favorite  Voronzof,  who  was  roughly  handled  and  nearly 
killed  by  the  boyards.  It  was  enough  for  a  courtier  to  take 
pains  to  please  him,  for  him  instantly  to  become  an  object  of 
mistrust  to  the  oligarchs.  Ivan,  like  a  neglected  child,  badly 
educated,  never  disciplined,  had  to  be  his  own  master.    He  read 


1 86  TTfSTOR  V  OF  RUss^r^. 

much,  without  method — the  Bible,  the  Lives  of  the  Saints,  the 
Byzantine  Chroniclers  translated  ir.to  Slavonic — whatever  came 
in  his  way.  Above  all,  he  thought.  He  had  imbibed  from  his 
reading  a  high  idea  of  what  it  was  to  be  a  king,  and  knew  well 
that  he  was  the  rightful  master.  These  very  boyards,  so  inso- 
lent towards  him  in  private — did  he  not  see  them  in  public  cer- 
emonials, at  receptions  of  ambassadors,  rival  each  other  in  af- 
fected respect  and  servility  ?  It  was  he  who,  seated  on  his 
throne,  received  the  compliments  of  the  foreign  envoys ;  his 
signature  was  necessary  to  give  the  force  of  law  to  actions  the 
most  contrary  to  his  will.  These  were  no  vain  forms,  but  in- 
volved real  power.  Ivan,  however,  dissembled.  After  the 
Christmas  fetes  of  1543,  he  suddenly  summoned  his  boyards  be- 
fore him,  addressed  them  in  a  menacing  tone,  and  reproached 
them  sternly  for  their  manner  of  governing.  "  There  were 
among  them,"  he  added,  "  many  guilty  ones ;  but  this  time  he 
would  content  himself  with  making  one  example."  He  then 
ordered  his  guards  to  seize  Andrew  Chouiski,  the  chief  of  the 
government,  and  there  and  then  had  him  torn  to  pieces  by 
hounds.  Some  of  the  most  turbulent  and  the  most  compro- 
mised were  banished  to  distant  towns.  The  author  of  this  conf> 
d'etat  was  thirteen  years  old. 

According  ,to  the  invariable  custom  of  Muscovite  sov^ereigns, 
Ivan  surrounded  himself  by  his  maternal  relations,  those  on  his 
father's  side  being  naturally  objects  of  suspicion.  Then  began 
what  was  called  a  vremia  ;  that  is  a  season  of  favor."  The  rela- 
tives of  the  Prince,  the  men  of  the  season  {j'rejnenchtchiki),  the 
Glinskis,  were  charged  to  provide  for  the  administration  of  the 
empire.  In  January  1547,  Ivan  ordered  the  Metropolitan 
Macarius  to  proceed  with  his  coronation.  He  assumed  at  the 
ceremony  not  only  the  title  of  Grand  P?ince,  but  that  of  Tzar. 
The  first  title  no  longer  answered  to  the  new  power  of  the  sover- 
eign of  Moscow,  who  counted  among  his  domestics,  princes  and 
even  Grand  Princes.  The  name  of  Tzar  is  that  which  the  books 
in  the  Slavonic  language,  ordinarily  read  by  Ivan,  give  to  the 
kings  of  Jnda^a,  Assyria,  Egypt,  Babylon  and  to  the  emperors  of 
Rome  and  Constantinople.  Now,  was  not  Ivan  in  some  sort 
the  heir  of  the  Tzar  Nebuchadnezzar,  the  7h7r  Pharaoh,  the 
Tzar  Ahasuerus,  and  the  Tzar  David,  since  Russia  was  the  sixth 
empire  spoken  of  in  the  Apocalypse  ?  Through  his  grandmothei 
Sophia  Palaiologus,  he  was  connected  with  the  family  of  the 
Tzar  of  Byzantium  ;  through  his  ancestor  Vladimir  Monoma- 
chus,  he  belonged  to  the  Porphyrogeniti  ;  and  through  Con- 
stantine  the  Great,  to  Caesar.  If  Constantinople  had  been  the 
second,  Moscow  was  the  third  Rome — living  heir  of  th^  Eternal 


HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA.  1 8  7 

City.  We  may  imagine  what  prestige  was  added  to  the  dignity 
of  Uie  Russian  sovereign  by  this  dazzling  title,  borrowed  from 
Biblical  aniiquity,  from  Roman  majesty,  from  tiie  orthodox  sover- 
eigns )i  Byzantium,  It  recall-d  at  the  same  time  the  recently, 
acqui/ed  freedom  of  Russia  ;  the  Slavonic  authors  likewise 
bestowed  this  august  title  on  the  Mongol  khans,  suzerains  of  the 
Muscovite  princes.  Now  that  fortune  smiled  upon  Russia,  it 
well  became  her  prince  to  call  himself  "  Tzar."  Shortly  after, 
Ivan,  whose  deserted  youth  had  been  soiled  by  debauchery, 
confirmed  his  return  to  virtue  by  his  marriage  with  Anastasia,  of 
that  family  of  Romanof  whose  future  destiny  was  to  be  so  bril- 
liant. His  Court  was  increased  by  vremenchkhiki  chosen  from 
the  relatives  of  the  Tzarina. 

The  vanquished  party  naturally  would  not  consent  to  be  set 
aside  without  a  struggle  for  revenge.  Fortune  soon  gave  them 
an  opportunity.  For  four  years  Ivan  had  governed  absolutely, 
supported  by  his  connections,  the  Glinskis  and  the  Romanofs, 
and  it  was  many  years  since  Russia  had  been  so  tranquil.  Sud- 
denly, in  1547,  a'terrible  fire  broke  out  and  destroyed  a  great 
part  of  Moscow,  and  1700  people  perished.  The  Tzar  took 
refuge  at  Vorobief,  and  thence  contemplated  with  terror  the 
destruction  of  his  capital.  An  inquiry  was  made,  ard  the  boy- 
ards  took  advantage  of  it  to  insinuate  to  the  people  that  it  was 
the  Glinskis  who  had  burnt  Moscow.  "  It  is  the  Princess  Anne 
Glinski,"  repeated  voices  among  the  crowd,  "  who,  with  her  two 
sons,  has  made  enchantments  ;  she  has  taken  human  hearts, 
and  plunged  them  in  water,  and  with  this  water  has  sprinkled 
the  houses.  This  is  the  cause  of  the  des' ruction  of  ^Ioscow." 
The  enraged  multitude  burst  into  the  palace  of  the  Glinskis. 
One  of  them,  louri,  was  stabbed  in  the  porch  of  the  Assump- 
tion. Then  the  rioters  proceeded  to  Vorobief,  and  demanded 
Ivan's  uncle,  the  old  Glinski.  The  sovereign's  own  life  was  in 
danger  ;  it  was  necessary  to  use  force  to  disperse  the  rebels. 

The  events  which  followed  are  unintelligible  from  the  dram- 
atized recital  of  Karamsin,  but  very  clear  if  we  keep  to  the 
logic  of  facts.  Ivan  could  hardlv  be  irrnorant  who  had  raised 
this  revolt,  and  he  was  not  the  man  to  give  himself  up  to  his 
ancient  guardians.  But  liis  nervous,  impressionable  nature 
had  been  greatly  struck  by  the  spectacle  under  his  eyes.  Under 
the  influence  of  this  terror  he  examined  his  conscience,  and 
resolved  to  amend  his  life.  He  took  the  priest  Silvester,  who 
had  dwelt  in  his  palace  for  nine  years,  and  had  a  great  reputa- 
tion for  virtue,  as  his  spiritual  director  ;  he  gave  him  at  the 
same  time  the  administration  of  ecclesiastical  aflfairs.  Alexis 
Adachef,  one  of  the  smaller  nobility,  was  charged  with  receiring 


1 88  Hr^^^RY  OF  RUSSIA. 

petitions,  and  the  supervision  of  the  interior  and  of  the  war.  As 
long;  as  the  two  new  favorites  confined  themselves  to  their 
offices,  the  Court  was  tranquil.  It  was  the  happiest  period  of 
the  reign  of  Ivan  IV.  The  municipal  administration  was  re- 
organized in  the  interior  (1551).  A  new  code  {Soudebnik)  was 
prepared,  and  a  council  assembled,  whose  hundred  articles 
\Stoglaf)  were  occupied  with  Church  reforms.  In  foreign  aflairs 
Russia  conquered  her  ancient  masters. 


CONQUEST  OF  KAZAN  (1552),  AND  OF  ASTRAKHAN    (1554). 

The  kingdom  of  Kazan  continued  to  be  distracted  bv  two 
opposing  influences — that  of  Russia  and  that  of  the  Khan  of  the 
Crimea.  The  latter  seemed  the  stronger,  and  Safa-Ghirei,  can- 
d  date  for  the  Crimea,  distinguished  his  accession  by  ravaging 
the  Russian  territory  ;  the  Khan  supported  him  in  these  incur- 
sions by  advancing  with  the  whole  Crimean  horde  as  far  as  the 
ka.  When  Safa  died,  leaving  a  son  who  was  a  minor,  the 
Muscovite  party  took  the  upper  hand  in  Kazan  and  bestowed 
the  crown  on  Schig-Alei.  He  made  himself  detested  by  his  new 
subjects,  and  things  came  to  such  a  pass  that  the  Kazanese 
appeared  to  prefer  the  direct  rule  of  Moscow  to  this  disguised 
subordination.  At  the  request  of  the  inhabitants  Ivan  recalled 
ochig-Alei,  and  sent  them  a  viceroy,  IMikoulmski.  Suddenly  a 
rumor  was  spread  in  Kazan  that  Mikoulinski  was  approaching 
with  Russian  troops  with  the  object  of  exterminating  the  popu- 
lation. A  rebellion  broke  out.  The  gates  of  Moscow  were  shut 
on  the  Muscovites,  and  men  demanded  a  prince  of  the  Nogai 
Tatars.     Ediger-Makhment  was  proclaimed  Tzar  of  Kazan, 

Ivan  determined  to  make  an  end  of  this  Mussulman  city. 
In  June  1552,  the  same  year  that  Henry  II.  obtained  possession 
of  the  three  bishoprics,  the  Tzar  took  the  field.  He  was  at 
once  checked  by  the  news  that  the  Khan  of  the  Crimea,  wishing 
to  save  Kazan  by  a  diversion,  had  invaded  Moscow,  Ivan  ad 
vanced  against  him  as  far  as  the  Oka ;  there  he  learnt  that  the 
barbarians,  not  being  able  to  take  Toula,  had  hastily  retired. 
Upon  this,  Ivan's  infantrv,  with  150,000  men  and  150  pieces  cf 
cannon,  descended  the  Volga  in  boats,  while  the  cavalry  followed 
along  the  banks,  and  directed  their  course  to  Kazan.  The 
creation  of  advanced  posts  had  diminished  the  distance  that 
separated  Kazan  from  Nijni-Novgorod.  His  father  had  founded 
Makarief  and  Vassilsoursk  on  the  Volga  ,-  and  he  himself  had 
established  in  155 1  the  warlike  colony  of  Sviajsk  on  the  Sviaga. 
Later  he  founded  those  of  Kosmodemiansk  and  Tcheboksarv, 


» 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA.  189 

At  the  beginning  of  September  Ivan  encamped  under  Kazan 
and  surrounded  it  by  a  line  of  circumvallation,  which  cut  off  all 
comimuiication  between  the  town  and  the  cavalry  of  the  Mourza 
lapaiit.cha,  which  had  taken ^  the  field.  The  garrison  of  Kazan, 
numbering  30,000  Tatars  and  2500  Nogais,  defended  themselves 
energetically  and  incessantly,  and  managed  by  their  sori'ws  to 
hinder  the  work  of  the  assailants.  The  Tzar  repeatedly  oft'ered 
them  honorable  terms  ;  he  even  hung  up  his  prisoners  on  gibbets 
to  frighten  the  Kazanese  into  surrendering,  but  the  besieged 
only  shot  arrows  against  these  unhappy  wretches,  crying  that 
"  it'was  belter  for  them  to  receive  death  from  the  clean  hands 
of  their  countrymen  than  to  perish  by  the  impure  hands  of 
Christians."  The  Russian  army  had  to  struggle  with  the  un- 
chained elements  as  well  as  with  their  enemies.  The  fleet, 
which  bore  their  provisions  and  powder,  was  destroyed  by  a 
tempest.  The  voievodes  wished  to  raise  the  siege,  but  Ivan  re- 
animated their  failing  courage.  Prolonged  rains  flooded  the 
Muscovite  camp,  caused,  it  was  said,  by  the  sorcerers  of  Kazan, 
who  stood  on  the  walls,  their  robes  girt  up,  insulting  the  be- 
siegers by  their  words  and  gestures.  Ivan  sent  to  Moscow  for 
a  miraculous  cross,  which  dispersed  the  enchantments. 

Ivan  had  secured  the  services  of  a  German  engineer,  who  laid 
mines  under  the  very  walls  of  the  town.  The  ramparts  of  wood 
and  bricks  at  many  points  fell  with  a  great  noise,  and  the  Rus- 
sian army  entered  the  town  by  the  breaches.  A  fierce  hand  to- 
hand  fight  took  place  in  the  streets  and  around  the  palace.  The 
bravest  of  the  Kazanese,  after  having  tried  to  defend  their 
prince,  cut  their  way  through,  but,  pursued  by  the  light  cavalry, 
few  escaped.  In  the  town  numbers  were  massacred  :  those  only 
were  spared  who  could  be  sold  to  slave-merchants.  When  the 
Tzar  made  his  triumphal  entry  into  the  middle  of  these  bloody 
ruins,  he  was  moved,  like  Scipio  at  Carthage,  by  a  feeling  of 
pity  for  this  great  disaster.  "  They  are  not  Christians,"  said 
he,  weeping,  "  but  yet  they  are  men."  The  town  was  re-peopled 
by  Russians,  and  even  at  the  present  day  the  Tatar  population 
is  confined  to  the  faubourgs.  In  the  Kremlin  Ivan  annihilated 
all  the  monuments  of  the  Mongol  past,  and  replaced  them  by 
churches  and  monasteries  which  attested  his  gratitude  towards 
God  and  the  triumph  of  the  Cross  over  Islam. 

The  date  of  these  events  is  already  far  distant,  but  they  still 
live  in  the  memory  of  the  Russian  people.  Many  epics  are  con- 
secrated to  this  great  victory.  It  is  not  only,  as  Karamsin  says, 
because  Kazan  was  the  first  fortress  taken  by  the  Russians  after 
a  siege  according  to  the  rules  of  war  ;  it  is  because  the  capture 
of  Kazan  marks  the  culminating  point  in  the  history  of  the  long 


IQO 


HIS  I  OXY  OF  RUSSIA, 


Struggle  of  the  Slavs  against  the  Tatars — a  struggle  which  be« 
gan  by  the  total  subjugation  of  Russia  by  the  Mongols,  but 
which  has  continued  to  our  own  day,  and  probably  will  only  end 
with  the  conquest  of  the  Tatar  races  by  the  Russian  Empire. 
The  victory  of  Ivan  the  Terrible  is  the  first  great  revenge  of  the 
vanquished  over  the  vanquishers,  the  first  triumph  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  conquerors,  the  first  stage  reached  by  European 
civilization  in  taking  the  offensive  towards  Asia.  In  the  Rus- 
sian annals  the  expedition  of  Kazan  occupies  the  same  glorious 
place  as  the  defeat  of  Abderahman  in  the  history  of  the  Franks, 
or  Las  Navas  da  Tolosa  in  the  chronicles  of  Spain.  It  was 
more  than  a  conquest — it  was  a  crusade.  During  the  assault 
Ivan  did  not  cease  to  display  the  standard  of  the  holy  faith. 
It  was  remarked  that  the  day  the  ramparts  fell  the  Tzar  was  at 
church,  and  the  deacon  read  the  following  verse  from  the  Gospel 
for  the  day  :  "  There  shall  be  one  flock,  one  shepherd."  It  was 
with  the  cry  of  "  God  with  us  !  "  that  the  Russians  precipitated 
themselves  into  the  town.  The  triumph  of  Moscow  mingled 
with  that  of  Christianity  and  orthodoxy. 

The  political  consequences  of  the  taking  of  Kazan  were  con- 
siderable. The  five  Finnish  or  Mongol  tribes  who  had  been 
subject  to  this  royal  city — the  Tcheremisses,  the  Mordvians,  the 
Tchouvaches,  whom  M.  Radlow  considers  the  descendants  of 
the  Bulgars  of  Bolgary,  the  Votiaks  and  the  Bachkirs — after  a 
resistance  of  some  years,  were  obliged  to  do  homage  to  Moscow. 
Ivan  sent  them  missionaries  at  the  same  time  as  his  voiievodes. 

The  fall  of  the  kingdom  of  Astrakhan  soon  followed  that  of 
Kazan.  This  great  city  was  also  divided  between  two  parties. 
In  1554  Prince  louri  Pronski  descended  the  Volga  with  30,000 
men,  and  established  Derbych,  the  protegi  of  Russia,  on  the 
throne.  Derbych,  after  a  short  time,  was  accused  of  having  an 
understanding  with  the  Khan  of  the  Crimea  ;  and  Astrakhan 
was  conquered  a  second  time,  and  finally  united  to  Russia.  The 
Nogais,  who  wandered  over  the  neighboring  steppes,  were 
forced  to  accept  the  Muscovite  protection.  Thus  the  Volga — 
that  famous  river  whose  banks  sustain  so  many  ruined  cities, 
Itil  capital  of  the  Khazars,  Bolgary  capital  of  the  Bulgars,  Sarai 
capital  of  the  Golden  Horde — that  keep  the  memory  of  the 
ancient  races  who  have  vanished  from  history  ;  the  Volga — that 
grand  artery  of  Eastern  commerce — now  flowed  in  the  whole  of 
its  course  from  its  source  to  its  mouth  through  the  land  of  the 
Tzars. 

Persian  Asia  was  thrown  open  to  Russian  influence  by  means 
of  the  Caspian  ;  and  already  the  petty  princes  of  the  Caucasus, 
always  fighting  either  among  themselves  or  with  the  Tatars  of 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


191 


the  Crimea,  sought  the  alliance  of  the  successors  of  the  Greek 
Csesars.  In  order  to  keep  a  firmer  hold  on  the  Horde  of  ihe 
Taurid,  Ivan  took  under  his  protection  one  of  the  two  warlike 
republics  which  had  been  formed  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
Crimea:  the  Cossacks  of  the  Don  declared  themselves  subjects 
of  Moscow,  the  Cossacks  of  the  Dnieper  remained  Poles. 


WARS  WITH  THE  LIVONIAN  ORDER,  POLAND,  TATARS,  SWEDEN,  AND 

ARISTOCRATIC  RUSSIA. 

Russia,  which  felt  the  growth  of  her  forces,  felt  equally  the 
need  of  throwing  open  the  Baltic  at  the  same  time  as  the  Black 
Sea.  The  Baltic  was  even  the  more  necessary  to  the  Russians, 
as  by  it  only  could  they  communicate  with  Western  Europe,  and 
receive  vessels,  artillery,  and  engineers.  Thence  Muscovy 
awaited  the  increase  of  power  that  civilization  could  alone  give 
her.  Between  Muscovy  and  the  Baltic  lay  more  than  one  enemy  : 
Sweden,  the  Livonian  knights,  Lithuania,  and  Poland.  In  1554 
a  war  broke  out  about  the  rectification  of  the  frontiers  between 
Ivan  the  Terrible  and  the  great  Gustavus  Vasa ;  but  as  the 
founder  of  the  Swedish  dynasty  was  not  supported  by  his  neigh- 
bors, the  war  w-as  a  short  one.  It  terminated  by  a  commercial 
treaty  which  opened  India  and  China  to  the  Swedish  merchants 
by  way  of  Russia  ;  and  to  those  of  Russia,  Flanders,  England, 
and  France,  bv  way  of  Sweden.  Moscow  could  not  yet  commu- 
nicate with  the  West  except  through  a  jealous  intermcdi- 
a^-v. 

Ivan  the  Terrible,  inspired  by  the  same  political  and  civiliz- 
ing ideas  as  Peter  the  Great,  wished  to  "  open  a  window  "  into 
Europe.  For  this  purpose  he  coveted  the  ports  of  the  Narva. 
Revel  and  Riga,  then  in  the  hands  of  the  Livonian  Order, 
against  which  Ivan  had  some  grievances.  About  1547  Ivan  had 
sent  the  Saxon  Schlitte  into  Germany  to  engage  for  him  a  cer- 
tain nun  ber  of  engineers  and  artizans,  and  Schlitte  had  managed 
to  collect  about  a  hundred  people.  The  jealousy  of  the  Germans 
then  awoke  ;  they  feared  that,  as  she  became  civilized,  Russia 
would  also  become  strong.  The  Livonian  Order  demanded  of 
the  Emperor  Charles  VI.  the  right  to  stop  these  strangers  on 
their  road.  None  ever  reached  Moscow.  Ivan,  then  occupied 
with  Kazan,  was  unable  to  avenge  himself;  but  when  in  1554 
the  envoys  of  the  Order  came  to  Moscow  to  solicit  a  renewal  of 
the  truce,  he  summoned  them  to  pay  tribute  for  lourief,  the 
ancient  patrimony  of  the  Russian  princes.  Such  a  demand 
meant  war.     In  1558  the  Russian  army  took  Narva,  Neuhausen, 


I g 2  HISTOR  Y  OF  RUSSIA. 

Dorpat,  and  seventeen  other  places.  The  Grand  Master  Kettlet 
asked  help  of  his  neighbors.  Poland  alone  responded  to  his 
appeal,  and  Sigismond  Augustus  II.  concluded  an  offensive  and 
defensive  alliance  with  the  Livonian  Order. 

At  this  juncture  an  important  revolution  took  place  in  the 
palace  of  the  Tzar.  Ivan's  relations  with  his  two  counsellors 
Silvester  and  Adachef  had  singularly  altered.  They  had  dis- 
agreed with  respect  to  the  war  with  Livonia  ;  they  had  desired 
that  after  the  capture  of  Kazan  and  Astrakhan  Ivan  should  turn 
in  preference  to  the  third  Mussulman  State,  the  Khanate  of  the 
Crimea.  M.  Kostoniarof  gives  excellent  reasons  for  this  pre- 
ference, but  the  reasons  in  favor  of  the  opposite  opinion  are 
not  less  good.  By  conquering  the  Crimea  the  safety  of  the  em- 
pire would  be  ijecured,  and  the  conversion  to  Islamism,the  com- 
plete Tatarization  of  the  ancient  Taurian  tribes  still  profess  ng 
Christianity,  would  be  prevented  ;  but  by  conquering  Livonia 
an  ancient  patrimony  of  the  Russian  princes  would  be  recovered 
and  it  would  become  possible  to  enter  into  direct  relations  with 
civilized  Europe.  The  chances  of  success  were  equal.  The 
Horde  was  then  decimated  oy  an  epidemic,  but  the  Livonian 
Order  was  in  the  act  of  dissolution  by  the  result  of  the  contest 
between  Catholicism  and  Protestantism.  The  difficulties  were 
equal.  In  attacking  Livonia,  Russia  would  come  in  contact  with 
Sweden,  Denmark,  Poland,  and  Germany  ;  but  behind  the  Crimea 
were  the  Turks,  then  at  the  height  of  their  power,  and  much  ir- 
ritated by  the  conquest  of 'Kazan  and  Astrakhan.  Peter  the 
Great  did  not  conquer  Livonia  till  after  twenty  years  hard  fight- 
ing with  the  Powers  of  the  North  ;  but  how  many  Russian  expe- 
ditions against  the  Crimea  have  not  been  stopped  by  the  dis- 
tance, the  difficulty  of  communication,  the  sandy  deserts,  and 
the  extreme  temperatures  ?  Catherine  the  Great  only  conquered 
the  Taurid  in  the  decadence  of  the  Turkish  Empire,  and  after 
many  campaigns,  when  she  not  only  brought  into  play  her  armies 
of  the  Danube,  but  sent  a  fleet  to  the  Archipelago.  In  reality 
both  enterprises  were  premature-;  Russia  had  not  yet  strength 
to  carry  them  through.  Neither  the  Tzar  nor  his  counsellors 
were  completely  in  the  right,  but  the  obstinacy  of  the  latter  had 
a  fatal  result.  To  content  everybody  two  wars  were  declared 
— which  was  to  run  the  certain  risk  of  a  double  check. 

The  misunderstanding  between  the  Tzar  and  his  two  minis- 
ters dated  from  further  back  Silvester  abused  his  spiritual  in- 
fluence with  the  Tzar  to  multiply  jobs  of  his  own.  He  had 
ended  by  leaving  him  no  liberty  ;  and  when  Ivan's  favorite 
son  died,  he  told  him  brutally  that  it  was  a  chastisement  from 
Heaven  for  his  indocility.     He  had  entered  into  relations  with 


ms  TOR  Y  OF  K  USSIA.  1  g^ 

boyards  whom  Ivan  justly  suspected  ;  he  took  their  part  against 
the  Tzarina  Anastasia,  whom  he  represented  as  a  second  Em- 
press Eudoxia,  the  persecutor  of  Chrysostom  ;  against  the  GHn- 
skis,  and  against  the  Ronianofs,  Adachef  followed  the  same 
path.  Like  Haroun-al-Raschid's  favorites,  the  Barmecides, 
these  two  ministers  had  ended  by  appropriating  all  the  power  of 
their  master.  Ivan  had  patience  with  them,  believing  them  to 
be  faithful  ;  but  in  1553  he  fell  dangerously  ill,  and  was  thought 
to  be  at  the  point  of  death.  Then  the  boyards  resumed  their 
ohl  arrogance;  they  obstinately  refused  to  swear  allegiance  to 
the  son  of  the  Tzar,  the  young  Dmitri,  declaring  tliat  they  would 
not  obey  his  maternal  relations,  the  Romanofs.  The  noisy  dis- 
cussions reached  the  bed  of  the  sick  man,  and  his  entreaties 
were  despised.  The  boyards  approached  Vladimir,  cousin  of 
Ivan  IV.,  who  had  also  refused  to  take  the  oaths,  and  it  was 
known  that  the  mother  of  this  ambitious  prince  was  distributing 
largesses  to  the  army.  Silvester  took  the  part  of  Prince  Vladi- 
mir against  those  boyards  who  remamed  faithful,  and  the  family 
of  Adachef  joined  with  the  mutineers.  The  faithful  boyards 
even  feared  for  the  life  of  the  Tzar;  Ivan  could  not  be  under 
any  delusions  as  to  tiie  fate  awaiting  his  wife  and  his  son  in  case 
of  his  death. 

"  When  God  shall  have  wgrked  His  will  on  me,"  said  Ivan 
to  the  few  boyards  gathered  round  him,  "  do  not,  I  pray  you, 
forget  that  you  have  sworn  an  oath  to  my  son  and  to  me  ;  do 
not  let  him  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  boyards;  fly  with  him  to 
some  strange  land,  whithersoever  God  will  conduct  you.  And 
you,"  he  continued,  addressing  the  Romanofs,  "  wherefore  these 
terrors  .''  Do  you  think  that  the  boyards  will  spare  you  ?  You 
will  fall  the  first :  die  then  rather — since  die  you  must — for  my 
son  and  for  his  mother  ;  do  not  abandon  my  wife  to  the  fury  of 
the  boyards."  Ivan  IV.  recovered,  but  he  preserved  a  lasting 
impression  of  these  days  of  anguish.  When  we  see  him,  later 
in  his  reign,  give  himself  up  to  revenge,  and  to  apparently  inex- 
plicable fury,  we  must  think  of  the  terrible  vigils  of  1553,  of  the 
scenes  of  rebellion  and  violence  that  troubled  the  peace  of  his 
sick  chamber,  of  the  obstinate  refusals  to  take  the  desired  vow 
of  the  delcarations  of  hatred  against  the  Tzarina  and  her  rela- 
tions, and  of  the  intrigues  woven  round  Vladimir  against  the 
Tzarevitch  Dmitri. 

He  had  no  more  confidence  in  his  favorites ;  both  were  ban- 
ished from  the  Court.  Silvester  retired  to  the  monastery  of 
Saint  Cyril,  and  was  afterwards  exiled  to  Solovetski.  Adachef 
was  appointed  voievode  at  Fellin  in  Lixonia,  and  later  was 
forced  to  live  at  Dorpat.     But  they  left  behind  them  a  complete 


194  HIS  TOR  V  OF  RUSSIA. 

administration,  a  perfect  army  of  clients.  They  had  peopled 
the  Court,  the  governments,  and  the  voievodies  with  their  creat- 
ures. Their  partisans  were  certain  to  agitate  and  plot  for  the 
return  of  their  chiefs.  Who  knew  how  far  these  plots  might 
go  ?  A  short  time  after  Adachef's  disgrace,  that  Anastasia 
whom  he  detested  died  suddenly.  Ivan  alleged  that  she  was 
poisoned.  Since  the  publication  of  M.  Zabie'line's  careful 
studies  on  the  '  Private  Life  of  the  Tzarinas  of  Russia,'  this 
allegation  and  others  like  it  do  not  appear  as  inconceivable  as 
they  seemed  to  Karamsin.  The  intrigues  of  the  friends  of 
Adachef  forced  Ivan  IV.  many  times  to  have  recourse  to  severity, 
but  at  this  epoch  he  was  comparatively  merciful. 

"  When  the  treachery  of  that  dog  Alexis  Adachef  and  his  ac- 
complices was  discovered,"  Ivan  afterwards  writes,  "  we  let  our 
anger  be  tempered  with  mercy  ;  we  did  not  condemn  the  guilty 
to  capital  punishments,  but  only  banished  them  to  our  different 
towns Then  we  put  no  one  to  death.  Those  who  be- 
longed to  the  party  of  Silvester  and  Adachef  we  commanded  to 
separate  from  them,  and  no  longer  to  recognize  them  as  chiefs. 
This  promise  we  made  them  confirm  by  a  vow,  but  they  paid  no 
heed  to  our  injunction,  and  trampled  their  oath  under  foot.  Not 
onlv  did  they  not  separate  from  the  traitors,  but  they  aided  them 
by  all  possible  means,  and  schemed  to  render  them  back  their 
ancient  power,  and  to  set  on  foot  against  us  a  perfidious  plot. 
Then  only,  seeing  their  wicked  obstinacy  and  unconquerable 
spirit  of  rebellion,  I  inflicted  on  the  guilty  the  penalty  of  their 
faults."  Capital  punishment  was  indeed  rare  at  this  epoch. 
Ivan  usually  contented  himself  with  demanding  a  fresh  oath  from 
t'lose  who  were  arrested  on  the  road  to  Lithuania,  and  exacted 
su-etv  from  them  and  their  friends  that  they  would  not  seek 
again  to  pass  into  Poland.  Sometimes  he  condemned  them  to 
the  easy  durance  of  the  monasteries. 

What  finally  decided  the  Tzar  to  be  more  severe  iti  his  treat- 
ment was  the  defection  of  Prince  Andrew  Kourbski,  who  be- 
longed to  a  family  once  royal,  and  descended  from  Rurik.  He 
had  distinguished  himself  against  the  Tatars  on  the  Oka  and  at 
Kazan,  and,  being  a  zealous  partizan  of  Adachef  and  Silvester, 
he  was  deeply  irritated  by  their  fall.  Nominated  general-in- 
chief  of  the  army  in  Livonia,  his  carelessness  allowed  the  Rus- 
sians to  suffer  a  shameful  defeat.  15,000  Russians  were  beaten 
by  4000  Poles ;  and  even,  if  the  Polish  historian  Martin  Belski 
is  to  be  believed,  40,000  Russians  by  1500  Poles.  Kourbski 
had  reason  to  fear  the  anger  of  the  Tzar.  He  had  been  for 
some  time  negotiating  with  the  King  of  Poland,  being  desirous 
of  obtaining  in   Lithuania  a  command,  lands,  and  advantageji 


mS  TOR  Y  OF  H  USSIA.  1 95 

equal  to  those  he  would  lose.  At  last,  abandoning  his  wife  and 
children  to  the  vengeance  of  ihe  Tzar,  he  left  Wenden  and 
crossed  into  the  Polish  camp.  Thence  he  sent  to  Ivan  a  letter 
by  his  servant  Chipanof,  whose  foot,  according  to  the  tradition, 
Ivan  nailed  with  his  iron  staff  on  to  a  step  of  the  red  staircase, 
while  the  message  was  being  read  to  him. 

"Tzar  formerlv  glorined  bv  God  !  "  wrote  Kourbski,  "  Tzar 
who  formerly  shone  like  the  torch  of  orthodoxy,  but  who,  for 
our  sins,  art  now  revealed  to  us  in  quite  a  different  aspect,  with 
a  soiled  and  leprous  conscience,  such  as  we  could  not  find  even 
among  barbarian  iniidels  !  Exposed  to  thy  cruel  persecution, 
with  a  heart  filled  with  bitterness,  I  wish  notwithstanding  to  say 
a  few  words  to  you.  O  Tzar,  why  hast  thou  put  to  death  tlie 
strons:  ones  of  Israel  ?  Whv  hast  thou  slain  the  valiant  voi'e- 
vodes  jriven  thee  bv  God  ?  Whv  hast  thou  shed  their  victorious 
blood,  their  only  blood  on  the  profaned  pavement  of  the  churches 
of  God,  during  the  sacred  ceremonies  ?  Why  hast  thou  red- 
dened the  porch  of  the  temple  with  the  blood  of  the  martyrs  ? 
In  what  were  they  guilty  towards  thee,  O  Tzar  ?  Was  it  not 
their  valor  which  overthrew,  which  laid  at  thy  feet,  those 
proud  kingdoms  of  the  Volga,  before  which  thine  ancestors 
were  slaves  1  Is  it  not  their  zeal,  their  intelligence,  to  which, 
after  God,  thou  owest  the  strong  towns  of  the  Germans  ?  And 
behold  thv  gratitude  to  these  unhappy  ones  !  Thou  hast  exter- 
minated whole  families  amongst  us.  Dost  thou  think  thyself 
then  immortal,  O  Tzar  ?  or  dost  thou  think  (seduced  by  some 
heresv)  that  thou  canst  escape  the  incorruptible  Judge,  Jesus 
our  God  ?  No  ;  He  will  judge  the  whole  world,  and  chiefly  such 
proud  persecutors  as  thou  art.  My  blood,  which  has  already 
flowed  for  thee  like  water,  will  cry  against  thee  to  our  Lord. 
God  sees  all  consciences  !  "  Kourbski  then  invokes  the  victims 
of  Ivan,  and  shows  them  standing  before  the  throne  of  God,  de- 
manding justice  against  their  executioner.  "  Is  it  that  in  thy 
pride  thou  trustest  in  thy  legions  to  keep  thee  in  this  ephemeral 
life,  inventing  against  the  human  race  new  engines  of  torture 
to  tear  and  disfigure  the  body  of  man,  the  image  of  the  angeis  ? 
Dost  thou  reckon  on  thy  servile  flatterers,  on  thy  boon  com- 
panions, on  thy  turbulent  boyards,  who  make  thee  lose  thy  soul 
and  body,  entice  thee  to  the  debaucheries  of  Venus,  and  sacri- 
fice their  children  to  the  vile  rites  worthy  of  Saturn  ?  \\'hen  my 
last  day  comes,  I  wish  that  this  letter,  watered  wiih  my  tears, 
should'be  placed  on  my  coflin."  He  ended  by  declaring  him- 
self a  subject  of  Sigismond  Augustus,  "my  sovereign,  who,  I 
hope,  will  load  me  with  favors  and  consolations  for  mv  misfor- 
tunes."    Thus  Kourbski  spoke  "  in  the  name  of  ihe  sviong  ones 


1 96  HISTOR  Y  OF  RUSSIA, 

of  Israel,  of  the  living  and  the  dead,"  that  is,  in  the  name  of  all 
the  friends  of  Adachef ;  he  made  himself  the  organ  of  their 
wrath  and  complaints ;  he  formulated  their  grievances,  and  ex- 
aggerated them  ;  he  demanded  an  account  of  the  Tzar  of  his 
conduct  towards  them,  threatening  him  with  a  higher  tribunal, 
and  dared  to  ask  if  he  thought  himself  immortal  ;  he  refused 
Ivan  all  participation  in  the  glorv  acquired  at  Kazan,  insulted 
the  boyards  who  surrounded  him,  and  boasted  of  the  crime 
which  was  the  most  unpardonable  in  the  eyes  of  the  Tzar — the 
recognition  of  the  Polish  sovereignty. 

Kourbski's  letter  was  a  manifesto.  It  helped  to  irritate  the 
suspicions  of  the  Tzar,  already  only  too  disposed  to  imagine 
plots.  Ivan,  who  thought  himself  a  man  of  letters,  and  was 
really  one  of  the  most  learned  men  in  his  empire,  conceived  it 
necessary  to  answer  the  letter  of  Kourbski  with  a  long  vindica- 
tion, adorned  with  quotations  from  sacred  and  profane  authors. 
The  Tzar  and  his  rebel  subject  exchanged  many  epistles  of  this 
kind.  Ivan,  who  had  begun  by  this  time  to  justify  his  surname 
of  Terrible,  gave,  besides,  another  answer  to  Kourbski's  mani- 
festo— the  punishment  of  his  supposed  accomplices. 

Ivan  felt  that  he  could  no  longer  govern  with  a  Court,  a 
council  of  state  {(iotima),  and  an  administration  which  were  filled 
with  the  friends  of  Adachef  and  Kourbski.  Kourbski's  conduct 
shows  to  what  depths  of  treason  their  rancor  cculd  bring  them. 
He  was  to  return  to  devastate  Russia  with  a  Polish  army  !  Was 
the  life  of  the  Tzar  safe  in  the  midst  of  such  men  ?  In  Decem- 
ber 1564  Ivan  quitted  Moscow  with  all  his  friends,  servants,  and 
treasures,  and  retired  to  the  Slobode  Alexandrof.  He  then  wrote 
two  letters  to  Moscow — one  to  the  Archbishop,  complaining  of  the 
plots  and  infidelity  of  the  nobles,  and  the  complicity  of  the  clergy, 
who,  abusing  the  right  of  intercession,  prevented  the  sovereign 
from  punishing  the  guilty  ;  in  the  other  he  reassured  the  citizens 
and  people  of  Moscow,  by  informing  them  that  they  were  not 
included  in  his  censure.  The  terror  of  the  capital  was  great; 
the  people  trembled  at  the  thought  of  falling  again  under  the 
government  of  the  oligarchs;  the  boyards  feared  what  the  people 
might  do  to  them.  Neither  the  one  nor  the  other  could  resign 
themselves  to  the  anger  of  the  sovereign.  The  boyards  and  the 
clergy  resolved  to  ask  pardon,  and,  if  necessary,  to  "carry  their 
heads  "  to  the  Tzar.  They  went  in  procession  to  the  Slobode 
Alexandrof,  to  beseech  him  to  recall  his  abdication.  Ivan  con- 
sented to  resume  the  crown,  but  on  his  own  conditions.  As  he 
could  neither  govern  with  the  actual  administration  nor  destroy 
it,  as  he  was  forced  to  respect  its  vested  interests,  he  made  a 
sort   of  partition  of  the  monarchy.     The   greater   part  of   the 


Ivan  IV. 


HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA.  I  n  7 

empire  continued  to  be  governed  by  the  dotima  of  the  boyards, 
and  constiliited  the  zcmchtchira,  that  is,  the  "  rule  of  the  country." 
Over  this  part  of  Russia  Ivan  only  reserved  a  surveillance,  and 
the  right  of  punishing  treason.  The  other  p.vrt  was  placed  under 
the  "personal  and  individual"  government  of  the  Tzar,  and 
formed  the  "  opritchnina''  Leaving  the  ancient  Court,  the  7iX\- 
n.\fiv\\.doin/ia,  and  the  ancient  administration  still  in  existence,  Ivan 
IV.  formed  with  his  own  creatures  a  new  Court,  a  new  council,  and 
a  new  administration  to  which  he  confided  the  towns  and  villages 
that  had  fallen  to  his  share.  He  surrounded  himself  with  a 
special  guard,  called  "  the  thousand  of  the  T/ar,"  or  the  flpritcJwiki 
who  had  adopted,  as  armes parlaiitcs,  a  dog's  head,  and  a  broom 
suspended  from  their  saddles.  They  were  ready  to  bite  the 
enemies  of  the  Tzar,  and  to  sweep  treason  off  the  Russian  soil. 
This  singular  r(fi^imc  lasted  seven  years  (1565-1572). 

Ivan  made  great  use  of  his  right  to  punish  traitors,  or  those 
whom  he  regarded  as  such.  A  perfect  reign  of  terror  hung  over 
the  Russian  aristocracy, with  alternations  of  calm  and  renewed  fury. 
We  know  the  names  of  his  victims,  but  we  do  not  always  know 
their  crimes.  The  writers  hostile  to  Ivan  IV.,  Kourbski,  the  Italian 
Guagnini,  then  in  the  service  of  the  King  of  Poland,  and  the 
German  refugees  Taube  and  Kruse,  are  not  always  agreed  on 
the  subject. 

About  the  facts  which  can  be  clearly  proved,  we  can  see  that 
Ivnn  had  real  grievances  against  the  nobles  whom  he  put  to 
death.  On  the  side  of  the  oligarchs  the  strife,  though  quiet  and 
noiseless,  was  not  less  bloody.  We  ought  not  to  be  deceived 
by  their  demonstrations  of  humility  and  submission  With  their 
foreheads  in  the  dust,  they  could  still  conspire.  We  must  beware 
of  thinking  Ivan's  enemies  were  any  better  than  himself.  They 
were  as  cruel  towards  their  inferiors  as  the  Tzar  was  towards 
them.  This  aristocracy  of  slave-masters,  habituated  under  the 
Tatar  yoke  to  an  insolent  disdain  of  human  life  and  feeling,  was 
not  superior  in  morality  to  its  tyrant.  It  presented  more  than 
one  type  similar  to  the  French  monsters  Gilles  de  Retz  and  the 
Sieur  de  Giac.  Under  very  different  colors,  it  was  the  same 
battle  that  raged  in  Russia  and  in  P>ance.  But  in  France  men 
fought  in  open  day  on  the  battle-fields  of  the  Praguerie  or  of  the 
League  of  the  Public  Good  ;  in  Russia  the  contest  was  carried 
on  by  silent  plots,  by  noiseless  attempts  to  poison  or  slay  by 
magic,  met  by  the  axe  of  the  executioner.  In  this  sinister  dia- 
logue between  the  master  and  his  subjects,  it  was  naturally  the 
master  who  spoke  the  loudest.  In  the  absence  of  a  sufficient 
number  of  authentic  documents,  we  risk  nothing  by  being  a 
little  more  sceptical  than  Karamsin. 


198 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


The  principal  episodes  of  this  autocratic  reign  of  terror  are. 
I.  The  deposition  and  perhaps  the  murder  of  St.  PhiHp,  Arch 
bishop  of  Moscow,  guilty  of  having  nobly  interceded  for  the  con 
demned,  and  of  hating  the  opritchniki.  2.  The  execution  of 
Alexandra,  widow  of  Iroui  and  sisier-in-law  of  Ivan  ;  of  Prince 
Vladimir  and  his  mother,  the  ambitious  Euphrosyne,  who  thus 
expiated  their  intrigues  of  1553.  We  must  remark  that  Ivan, 
whatever  Kourbski  may  say,  spared  Vladimir's  children,  and 
largely  provided  for  them.  3.  The  chastisement  of  Novgorod, 
where  the  aristocratic  party  had  entertained,  it  seemed  to  Ivan, 
the  project  of  opening  the  gates  to  the  King  of  Poland,  and 
where  the  Tzar,  according  to  his  own  testimony,  put  to  death 
1505  persons.  4.  The  great  execution  in  the  Red  Place  in  1571, 
where  a  certain  number  of  Muscovites  and  Novgorodians  were 
slain,  and  where  many  of  Ivan's  new  favorites,  notably  Viazemski 
and  the  Basmanofs,  underwent  the  same  penalty  as  his  old 
enemies. 

A  curious  memorial  has  been  left  us  of  the  vengeance  of 
"  the  Terrible  "  ;  it  is  the  synodical  letter  of  the  Monastery  of 
St.  Cyril,  in  which  Ivan  asks  for  each  of  his  victims  by  name  the 
prayers  of  the  Church.  This  list  shows  a  total  of  3470  victims, 
of  whom  986  are  mentioned  by  name.  Many  of  these  names 
are  followed  by  this  sinister  statement, — "  with  his  wife,"  "  with 
his  wife  and  children,"  '•  with  his  daughters,"  "  with  his  sons." 
It  was  this  that  Kourbski  called  '•  the  extermination  of  entire 
families  "  (I'siorodno).  The  constitution  of  the  Russian  family 
at  this  epoch  was  so  strong,  that  the  death  of  the  head  necessarily 
involved  that  of  the  other  members.  Other  collective  indica- 
tions are  not  less  significant.  For  example  :  "  Kazarine  Dou- 
brovski  and  his  two  sons,  with  ten  men  who  came  to  their  help." 
"  Twenty  men  of  the  village  of  Kolmenskoe  ;  "  "  eighty  of  Mat- 
veiche;"  these  were  no  doubt  peasants  and  dicfi-boyarskie  who 
tried  to  defend  their  masters.  There  is  this  mention  relative  to 
Novgorod  :  "  Remember,  Lord,  the  souls  of  thy  servants,  to  the 
number  of  1505  persons,  Novgorodians."  Had  not  Louis  XI. 
tender  feelings  of  this  nature?  He  prayed  with  fervor  for  the 
soul  of  his  brother,  the  Duke  de  Berri. 

Other  records  demonstrate  that  Ivan  the  Terrible  thought  he 
had  serious  reasons  to  fear  for  his  life.  His  curious  corre- 
spondence with  Queen  Elizabeth  of  England  proves  this,  as  he 
obtains  of  her  the  formal  promise  that  in  case  of  misfortune  he 
is  to  find  in  England  a  safe  asylum  and  the  free  exercise  of  his 
worship  (1570),  There  is  besides  his  will  of  1572,  which  con- 
templates the  case  of  his  being  "  proscribed  by  his  boyards  and 
expelled  by  them  from  the  throne,  and  being  obliged  to  wander 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA.  ig^ 

from  country  to  country,"  and  recommends  to  his  sons  to  live 
on  good  icrms  with  each  other  after  his  deaih,  to  learn  how  tc 
restrain  and  reward  their  subjects,  and  above  all  to  be  on  the 
watch  against  them. 

During  this  terrible  intestine  strife,  the  war  with  Livonia 
and  her  ally  the  King  of  Poland  continued.  Notwithstanding 
the  help  of  the  latter,  the  Knighis  were  everywhere  beaten,  and 
their  fortresses  taken  by  the  Russian  troops. 

At  last,  ruined  by  so  many  blows,  this  famous  Order  dis- 
solved. The  Isle  of  Gisel  sold  itself  to  Denmark  ;  Revel  gave 
itself  to  the  Swedes ;  Livonia  was  ceded  by  the  Grand  Master 
to  Poland  ;  Kettler  reserved  to  himself  Courland  and  Semigallia, 
which  were  erected  into  a  hereditarv  duchv.  There  were  no 
more  Livonian  knights,  but  Poland,  as  heir  of  the  quarrels  of 
Livonia,  became  more  than  ever  ardent  in  the  struggle.  The 
Russians  sustained  their  new  reputation.  In  1563  Ivan  the 
Terrible,  with  a  numerous  army  and  many  guns,  besieged  and 
took  Polotsk,  a  very  important  position  from  its  proximity  to 
Livonia  and  its  situation  on  the  Dwina,  the  grand  commercial 
route  to  Riga.  In  spite  of  a  victory  at  Orcha,  the  King  of  Po 
land  demanded  a  truce  (1566). 

Ivan  at  this  moment  ottered  a  strange  spectacle  to  Russia. 
To  deliberate  on  the  request  of  Sigismond  he  assembled  a  coiui- 
sel,  composed  of  the  higher  clergy,  the  territorial  boyards  on 
the  frontiers  of  Lithuania  (and  well  acquainted  with  the  local 
topography),  and  finally  the  merchants  of  Moscow  and  Smo- 
lensk. This  despot,  who  founded  autocracy  in  blood,  convoked 
real  States-general;  he  made  an  ap|)eal  to  their  opinion,  as  he 
had  many  times  before,  when  from  the  stone  tribune  of  Lobitoe 
miesto  he  harangued  the  three  orders.  The  Assemblv  decided 
that  the  King  of  Poland's  conditions  could  not  be  accepted,  and 
offered  men  and  money  for  the  continuation  of  the  war.  This 
was  prolonged  for  four  years,  and  ended  in  a  truce.  The  Tzar, 
who  saw  difficulties  accumulating  in  Livonia,  conceived  an  ex- 
pedient to  enable  him  to  escape  them.  No  longer  hoping  to  be 
able  directly  to  unite  the  Baltic  ports  to  his  empire,  he  offered 
the  title  of  King  of  Livonia  to  the  Danish  Prince  Magnus,  and 
made  him  marry  a  daughter  of  the  same  Prince  Vladimir  whom 
he  had  put  to  death.  Magnus,  nominal  King  of  Livonia,  soon 
perceived  that  he  was  only  an  inslrmnent  of  Muscovite  policy. 
He  intrigued  against  the  Tzar  and  was  dethroned,  Ivan  the 
Terrible  took  Wenden  in  person,  which  Magnus  had  garrisoned, 
and  massacred  the  German  soldiers  to  the  last  man. 

Unfortunately  the  war  with  Poland  was  complicated  by  the 
raids  of  the  Tatars  of  the  Crimea.     Sigismond  did  not  cease  to 


200  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

work  upon  the  Khan,  who  well  understood  that  his  cause  was 
aUied  with  that  of  Poland.  The  Tzar,  however,  overpowered 
the  Khan,  took  Kief,  and  established  towns  on  the  Dnieper. 
And  what  could  the  Tatars  gain  there,  after  all  ?  Had  not  Ivan 
overthrown  two  Mongol  kingdoms  ?  The  Sultan  of  Stamboul, 
Selim  II.,  was  ready  to  join  in  the  Holy  War  for  Kazan  and 
Astrakhan,  In  1569,  17,000  Turks,  commanded  by  Kassim 
Pacha,  and  50,000  Tatars,  led  by  the  Khan,  besieged  Astrakhan. 
The  operations  dragged  on  ;  the  Pacha  wished  to  pass  the 
winter  there,  but  a  sedition  broke  out  in  the  army.  He  was 
obliged  to  raise  the  siege,  and  lost  many  of  his  men  in  the 
steppes  of  the  desert.  Two  years  after,  the  Khan  Devlet- 
Ghirei  invaded  Russia  with  20,000  men.  Was  he  aided  bv  the 
treachery  of  the  voievodes  .''  He  crossed  the  Oka,  and  suddenly 
appeared  under  the  walls  of  Moscow.  He  burned  the  faubourgs 
and  the  fire  spread  to  the  town,  which,  except  the  Kremlin,  was 
completely  reduced  to  ashes.  A  foreign  author  gives  the  evi- 
dently exaggerated  number  of  800,000  victims.  The  Khan  retired 
with  more  than  100,000  prisoners,  and  despatched  the  following 
insolent  message  to  Ivan  :  "  I  burn,  I  ravage  everything  because 
of  Kazan  and  Astrakhan.  I  came  to  you  and  I  burnt  Moscow. 
I  wished  to  have  your  crowD  and  your  head,  but  you  did  not 
show  yourself;  you  declined  a  battle,  and  you  dare  to  call  your- 
self a  Tzar  of  Moscow.  Will  you  live  at  peace  with  me  ?  Yield 
me  up  Kazan  and  Astrakhan.  If  you  have  only  money  to  offer 
me,  it  would  be  useless,  were  it  the  riches  of  the  whole  world. 
What  I  want  is  Kazan  and  Astrakhan.  As  to  the  roads  to  your 
empire,  I  have  seen  them — I  know  them."  He  returned  the 
following  year  (1572),  but  Prince  Michael  Vorotinski  met  him 
on  the  banks  of  the  Lopasnia,  and  inflicted  on  him  a  complete 
defeat. 

The  same  year  (that  of  the  Massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew) 
died  Sigismond  Augustus  II.,  king  of  Poland.  His  reign  was 
especially  memorable  for  the  union  of  Lublin  (1569),  in  virtue  of 
which  Poland  and  Lithuania  were  henceforth  to  form  only  one 
State  under  an  elective  prince.  Thus  Poland  enfeebled  royal 
power  at  home,  just  when  it  acquired  in  Russia  an  extraordinary 
iegree  of  energy.  A  party  of  nobles  was  formed  at  Warsaw  who 
A'ished  to  elect  the  son  of  Ivan  the  Terrible  as  King  of  Poland. 
This  was  to  prepare  for  the  reunion  of  the  two  great  Slav  em- 
pires, separated  less  by  language  than  religion,  whose  growing 
antagonism  could  only  terminate  in  the  ruin  of  one  of  them,  to 
th.e  great  advantage  of  the  German  race.  Ivan  coveted  the 
crown,  not  for  his  son,  but  for  himself.  Let  us  see  him  court 
Uie  Polish  ambassadors,  and  try  to  defend  himself  against  the 


HISTOR  Y  OF  R USSIA.  2 O I 

accusations  of  cruelty  and  tyranny  which  the  banished  Musco 
vites  brought  against  liini. 

"If  your/(r//jr,  who  arc  now  without  a  king,"  said  he  to  the 
PoUsh  envoy  Voropai,  "desire  me  for  their  sovereign,  they  will 
see  what  a  good  protector  antl  l<ind  master  they  will  find  in  me. 
Many  among  you  say  that  I  am  cruel.  It  is  true  that  I  am  cruel 
and  irascible — I  do  not  deny  it;  but  to  whom,  I  ask  you,  am  I 
cruel  ?  I  am  cruel  towards  anyone  that  is  cruel  to  me.  The 
good  !  ah,  I  would  give  them  in  a  moment  the  chain  and  the 
robe  that  I  wear  !  It  is  nothing  wonderful  that  your  princes 
love  their  subjects,  if  their  subjects  love  them.  Mine  have  de- 
livered me  over  to  the  Tatars  of  the  Crimea,  My  voievodes  did 
not  even  warn  me  of  the  arrival  of  the  enemy.  Perhaps  it  was 
difficult  for  them  to  vanquish  a  force  so  superior  to  them  in  num- 
bers :  but  even  if  they  had  lost  some  thousands  of  men,  and 
only  brought  me  a  whip  or  a  cane  of  the  Tatars,  I  should  have 
been  grateful.  Think  of  tlie  enormity  of  their  treason  towards 
me.  If  some  of  them  were  afterwards  chastised,  it  was  for  their 
crimes  they  were  punished.  I  ask  you — do  you  spare  traitors  ?  " 
Ivan  then  spoke  of  his  grievances  against  Kourbski,  and  ended 
by  promising  "  to  observe  the  laws,  to  respect  and  even  to  ex- 
tend the  liberties  and  franchises  of  Poland." 

The  ambassador  of  France  at  Warsaw  finally  carried  the  day, 
and  Henri  de  Valois,  due  d'Anjou,  was  proclaimed  king.  He 
did  not  stay  long  in  Poland,  and,  after  his  flight  to  the  West,  a 
new  Diet  assembled,  and  the  intrigues  of  the  rival  Courts  began 
again, 

Stephen  Batory,  voievode  of  Transylvania,  was  elected  king. 
He  was  a  young,  ambitious,  and  energetic  prince,  and  no  more 
formidable  enemy  to  Ivan  the  Terrible  in  his  old  age  could  have 
been  chosen.  It  was  now  not  only  a  question  of  the  conquest 
of  Livonia  which  was  pursued  so  laboriously  in  the  face  of  so 
many  obstacles,  but,  in  placing  the  crown  on  his  head,  Batory 
had  sworn  to  give  back  to  Poland  the  towns  conquered  from 
her  by  the  Muscovite  pri  ices.  It  was  now  a  contest  between 
the  semi-barbarous  army  of  Russia,  her  almost  feudal  soldiery, 
her  Tatar  cavalry,  her  tactics  of  routine,  and  her  feeble  artillery, 
and  a  really  European  army,  a  well-directed  artillery,  compact 
regiments  of  German  mercenaries,  and  Hungarian  veterans,  sea- 
soned by  inany  combats.  Ivan  awaited  his  enemy  in  Livonia, 
when  suddenly  Batory  appeared  before  Polotsk  and  took  it,  in 
spite  of  a  vigorous  resistance.  The  Russian  gunners  hung 
themselves  by  their  guns  in  despair.  This  and  the  following 
years  were  marked  by  the  capture  of  many  Russian  fortresses. 
Batory,  the  hero  of  the  North— the  Charles  XII.  of  the  century 


202  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

of  Ivan  the  Terrible — seemed  ready  to  annihilate  the  work  of  a 
long  reign,  and  to  check  the  first  effort  of  Russia  to  escape  from 
a  state  of  barbarism.  The  Swedes  on  their  side,  commanded 
by  De  la  Gardie,  took  Kexhoim  in  Carelia,  and  invaded 
Esthonia.  Old  Pskovian  and  Novgorodian  Russia  was  invaded. 
In  1 58 1  Batory  besieged  Pskof,  whilst  De  la  Gardie  captured 
Narva,  Ivangorod,  lam,  and  Koporie.  But  Pskof  marked  the 
limit  of  Eatery's  successes.  This  little  town  was  defended 
with  so  much  energy  by  Ivan  Choui'ski,  that,  after  a  three 
months'  siege  and  many  assaults,  Poles  and  Hungarians  had  to 
confess  themselves  vanquished. 

Ivan  had  ceased  to  appear  at  the  head  of  his  troops,  thinking 
that  a  prince  who  is  not  sure  of  his  peers  would  be  foolish  if  he 
risked  himself  in  a  battle  ;  a  conclusion  to  which  Louis  XI.  had 
come  at  Montlhery.  There  still  remained  diplomacy  to  direct. 
Threatened  by  Batory,  he  had  recourse  to  an  expedient.  He 
implored  the  mediation  of  Pope  Gregory  XIII.  between  the 
Catholic  king  and  himself  The  Pontiff  sent  to  Moscow  the 
Jesuit  Antonio  Possevino,  with  orders  at  the  same  time  to  nego- 
tiate the  union  with  the  two  Churches.  The  account  of  Posse- 
vino  shows  us  Ivan  the  Terrible  in  his  true  colors ;  almost  free- 
thinking,  curious,  and  sometimes  humorous,  with  ideas  of  toler- 
ance remarkable  for  his  time.  If  the  Pope's  envoy  failed  in  the 
religious  part  of  his  mission,  he  at  least  succeeded  in  concluding 
a  truce  between  the  two  sovereigns,  by  which  Ivan  had  to  cede 
Polotsk  and  all  Livonia.  This  bold  enterprise  for  opening  the 
Baltic  Sea,  which  preceded  by  150  years  that  of  Peter  the  Great, 
had  fallen  miserably  to  the  ground.  The  fruit  of  thirty  years' 
efforts  and  sacrifices  was  lost  (1582). 


THE    ENGLISH    IN   RUSSIA — CONQUEST   OF   SIBERIA. 

Writers  hostile  to  Ivan  love  to  contrast  the  end  of  his  reign 
• — his /e7-j-(7;/(7/ government — with  his  early  years,  when  Silvester 
and  Adachef  were  in  power.  In  the  first  period  there  was  noth- 
ing but  success  ;  Kazan  and  Astrakhan  were  conquered.  In 
the  second  period  the  Russians  were  vanquished  by  the  Poles 
and  Swedes;  were  expelled  from  Livonia;  they  lost  Polotsk, 
and  saw  Moscow  burnt  by  the  Khan  of.  the  Crimea.  The  mean- 
ing of  these  facts  really  is  that  the  Russian  arms  were  trium- 
phant in  the  P^ast  against  barbarians  ignorant  of  the  military  art, 
and  unfortunate  in  the  West,  where  tliey  had  to  contend  with 
the  artillery,  the  tactics,  the  discipline,  and  the  troops  of  Europe. 
Ivan  needed  more  wit  to  be  defeated  as  he  was  in  Livonia,  than 


HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA.  203 

to  win  as  he  did  in  Kazan.     It  is  no  dishonor  for  the  Russia  of 

the  i6ih  century  to  iiave  failed  in  this  great  undertaking,  since 
Peter,  with  all  his  genius,  spent  twenty-five  years  in  the  same 
task.  This  unlucky  period  of  the  reign  of  Ivan  was  not  without 
fruit  for  the  grandeur  and  civilization  of  Russia.  The  Germans 
closed  to  her  the  Uallic,  the  English  opened  for  her  the  White 
Sea. 

Under  Edward  VI.  a  company  of  merchant  venturers  was 
formed  for  the  discovery  of  "  regions,  kingdoms,  islands,  and 
places  unknown  and  unvisited  by  the  highway  of  the  sea.  ' 
Sebastian  CJabot,  chief  pilot  of  England,  was  nominated  governoi 
for  life.  Three  vessels,  under  the  command  of  Sir  Hugh  Wil- 
loughby  and  Chancellor,  set  sail  towards  the  north-east,  towards 
that  strange  sea  spoken  of  by  Tacitus — "a  sluggish  mere  and 
motionless — which  forms  the  girdle  of  the  world,  where  vou 
hear  the  sound  of  sun-rising !  "  That  sea  must  lead,  men 
thought,  to  China.  On  the  coasts  of  Scandinavia  near  Varde- 
huus,  a  frightful  tempest  arose  and  dispersed  the  squadron. 
Willoughby  disappeared  with  the  '  Buona  Speranza '  and  the 
'  Buona  Confidenza.'  Some  fishermen  afterwards  found  the  two 
ships  in  a  bay  of  the  White  Sea,  where  they  had  been  nipped  by 
the  ice,  and  all  the  sailors  who  manned  them  were  dead  of 
cold  and  hunger.  Chancellor,  with  the  '  Edward  Bonaventura,' 
succeeded  in  doubling  Laponia  and  the  Holy  Cape,  penetrated 
first  into  an  unknown  sea,  and  then  into  the  mouth  of  a  river, 
near  which  was  a  monastery.  The  sea  was  the  W^hite  Sea,  the 
river  the  Dwina,  the  monastery  that  of  St.  Nicholas.  Chancel- 
lor learned  with  astonishment  that  he  was  on  the  territory  of  the 
Tzar  of  Moscow  ;  he  had  found  Russia  beneath  the  North  Pole 
(1553).  Further  ofif  was  the  monastery  of  St.  Michael,  near 
which  was  afterwards  to  be  built  in  this  desert,  chiefiv  thanks 
to  the  English,  the  commercial  city  of  St.  Michael  the  Archangel, 
or,  more  shortly,  Arkhangel.  Chancellor  at  once  left  for  Mos- 
cow, and  delivered  to  Ivan  the  Terrible  the  letters  which  Ed- 
ward VI.,  not  knowing  where  his  subjects  might  land,  had  ad- 
dressed vaguely  "  to  all  the  princes  and  lords,  to  all  the  judges 
of  the  earth,  to  their  officers,  to  whoever  possesses  any  high 
authority  in  all  the  regions  under  the  vast  sky."  Ivan  IV. 
admitted  the  English  "  to  see  his  majesty  and  his  eyes,"  feasted 
them  in  the  Golden  Palace,  and  gave  them  a  letter  for  their 
king,  in  which  he  authorized  the  English  to  trade  with  his  domin- 
ions, and  made  them  promise  to  send  ships  to  the  Dwina. 

Mary  Tudor  succeeded  her  brother,  and  shared  the  throne  with 
her  Spanish  husband,  Philip  II.  They  confirmed  the  privileges 
of  the  company  of  merchant  venturers,  and  in  1556  Chancellor, 


204 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


accompanied  by  Richard  Gray  and  George  Killingworth,  again 
set  sail  for  the  mouth  of  the  Dwina,  and  arrived  successfully  at 
Moscow.  This  time  they  obtained  from  the  Tzar  letters-patent 
formally  authorizing  the  members  of  the  company  to  establish 
themselves  at  Kholmogory  and  at  Vologda,  and  to  trade  east 
and  we^t.  During  this  time  Stephen  Burroughs,  in  the  '  Search- 
thrift,'  navigated  the  east,  gained  the  shores  of  the  country  of 
the  Samoyedes,  touched  on  the  islands  of  Nova  Zembla  and 
Vaigatz,  and  was  only  checked  by  the  approach  of  the  dark  Po- 
lar winter. 

Chancellor's  two  vessels — the  '  Edward  Bonaventura  '  and 
the  '  Philip  and  Mary  ' — which  had  discovered  the  missing  ships 
of  Willoughby,  departed  for  England.  The  former  had  on  board 
Osip  Nepei,  governor  of  Vologda,  the  first  Russian  ambassador 
that  had  been  seen  in  England,  accompanied  by  a  suite  of  si.x- 
teen  Russians,  and  carrying  a  letter  and  presents  from  Ivan 
IV.  A  tempest  scattered  the  fleet,  sent  the  'Philip  and  Mary  ' 
as  far  as  the  coast  of  Norway,  sunk  the  '  Speranza '  and  the 
'  Confidenza,'  and  threw  the  '  Bonaventura  '  on  the  inhospitable 
rocks  of  Inverness.  Chancellor  succeeded  in  saving  the  Rus- 
sian envoy,  but  perished  himself  with  his  son  and  nearly  all  the 
crew.  The  cargo  and  the  presents  of  the  Tzar  were  plundered 
by  the  savage  natives  of  the  country. 

Twelve  miles  from  London  Osip  Nepei  was  received  by 
eighty  merchants  of  the  company,  mounted  on  magnificent 
horses,  and  adorned  with  heavy  chains  of  gold.  He  now  be- 
came acquainted  with  "  all  the  solid  respectability  of  old  Eng- 
land." His  cortege  was  increased  by  new  squadrons  of  mer- 
chants and  gentlemen  as  they  approached  the  town,  and  he  made 
his  triumphal  entry  on  February  the  28th  1557.  Harangued  by 
the  Lord  Mayor,  received  by  the  Queen  and  the  King,  feasted 
by  the  corporation  of  drapers  he  departed  for  Russia  with  letters- 
patent  according  to  Russian  merchants  in  England  a  reciprocity 
of  privileges.     England  did  not  bind  herself  down  to  much. 

Nepei  this  time  was  accompanied  by  Jenkinson,  an  admirable 
type  of  an  English  sailor, — bold,  indefatigable,  ready  for  any- 
thing ;  a  merchant,  an  administrator,  a  diplomat  at  need,  who 
had  already  visited  all  the  seas  of  Europe,  and,  in  despair  at 
England  not  beinir  able  to  contest  the  Mediterranean  with  her 
Venetian  rival,  wished  to  secure  her  a  new  passage  by  Russia  to 
the  ICast.  His  open  character  and  wide  knowledge  were  won- 
derfully seductive  to  Ivan.  He  obtained  from  the  Tzar  a  letter 
of  recommendation  to  the  Asiatic  princes,  descended  the  Volga, 
flew  the  first  English  flag  on  the  Caspian,  landed  on  the  coast  of 
Turkestan;  plunged  with  camels  loaded  with  merchandise  into 


HISTORY  OF  RUSS/A. 


205 


regions  infested  with  brigands,  and  ravaged  by  the  wars  of  the 
khans;  was  very  nearly  massacred,  reached  Jirjkhara,  and  was 
lucky  enough  to  return  before  the  city  was  sacked  by  the  Sultan 
of  Samarcand  (1558-1559).  In  another  voyage  (1562)  he  again 
crossed  the  Caspian,  and  presented  specimens  of  English  man 
ufacture  and  the  letters  of  Elizabeth  to  Shah  Thamas,  King  of 
Persia,  who,  warned  by  the  friends  of  the  Turks  and  Venetians 
received  Jenkinson  with  an  insulting  mistrust  and  coldness 
When  he  retired  from  the  Court,  a  domestic  followed  him  carry- 
ing a  basin  of  sand,  and  scattered  it  to  efface  the  impure  foot- 
steps of  the  giaour  on  the  soil  of  the  sacred  palace,  Jenkinson 
brought  back  to  Ivan  IV.  messages  from  many  small  princes, 
notably  from  those  of  Chirvan  and  Georgia,  who  wished  to  place 
themselves  under  the  Muscovite  protection.  The  results  of 
these  voyages  were  negative.  Seeing  the  instability  of  the 
Asiatic  regions,  the  English  had  for  the  present  to  confine  them- 
selves to  trading  in  the  territories  of  the  Tzar.  The  latter,  in 
acknowledgment  of  the  services  rendered  him  by  Jenkinson,  au- 
thorized them  to  trade  on  all  the  rivers  of  the  north,  from  the 
Dwina  to  the  Obi,  and  to  establish  themselves  in  the  principal 
Russian  towns — Pskof,  Novgorod,  Nijni-Novgorod,  Kazan,  As- 
trakhan, and  Narva,  which  had  just  fallen  into  the  power  of  the 
Russians. 

In  1568  Ivan  wished  to  conclude  with  Elizabeth  a  treaty  of 
alliance,  offensive  and  defensive,  against  Poland  and  Sweden. 
He  offered  her  in  exchange  a  monopoly  of  commerce  with  Rus- 
sia, though  this  right,  by  his  own  showing,  weighed  more  heavily 
on  his  empire  than  a  tribute  would  have  done.  He  also  re- 
quested her  to  sign  an  engagement,  reciprocal  for  the  two  sov- 
ereigns, to  furnish  each  other  with  an  asylum  in  the  event  of  the 
success  of  an  enemy,  or  the  rebellion  of  their  subjects,  obliging 
them  to  fly  from  their  States,  P'.lizabeth  declined  the  offer  of 
alliance,  and  refused  to  accept  for  herself  the  offered  asylum, 
"  finding,  by  the  grace  of  God,  no  dangers  of  the  sort  in  her  do- 
minions." It  w'as  in  1570  that  she  signed  the  treaty  mentioned 
above,  and  had  it  countersigned  by  Bacon  and  the  principal 
statesmen.  This,  however,  was  far  from  contenting  Ivan,  as 
Elizabeth  persisted  in  declining  a  refuge  in  Russia.  The  dis- 
cussion on  this  "  great  affair."  as  Ivan  calls  it  in  his  letters,  was 
prolonged  for  some  time  longer.  Elizabeth  sent  Randolph, 
Jenkinson,  and  Daniel  Silvester  to  Russia.  Ivan  was  repre- 
sented in  London  by  Andrew  Sovine,  Pisemski,  and  the  English 
merchant.  Horsey. 

The  last  envoy  of  England  in  the  reign  of  Ivan  was  Jerome 
Bowes,  charged  to  explain  to  the  Tzar  the  difliculties  in  the  way 


2o6  •  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

of  his  project  of  marriage  with  Lady  Mary  Hastings,  cousin  of 
Elizabeth.  Notwithstanding  liis  heaviness  and  want  of  tact, 
Bowes  obtained  great  credit  with  the  Tzar,  who  sometimes  said 
to  him,  "  May  it  please  God  that  my  servants  prove  as  faithful !  " 
Bowes  profited  by  his  favor  to  get  the  privileges  of  the  English 
augmented,  but  he  made  himself  many  enemies  at  Court,  and 
was  greatlv  maltreated  during  the  reaction  that  followed  the 
death  of  Ivan.  The  relations  were  renewed  in  Feodor's  reign 
by  Horsey,  and  above  all,  by  Fletcher,  author  of  a  curious  ac- 
count of  Russia. 

French  merchants  had  also  brought  to  Ivan  a  letter  of 
Henry  III.,  and  had  settled  themselves  in  Moscow.  Other  en- 
voys arrived  from  Holland,  Spain,  and  Italy,  to  try  to  rival  the 
English;  but  the  latter,  who  had  been  the  first  to  reach  Russia, 
kept  the  pre-eminence. 

In  155S  the  Tzar  had  yielded  to  Gregory  Strogonof  ninety- 
two  miles  of  desert  land  on  the  banks  of  the  Kama.  Here  the 
Strogonofs  created  manv  centres  of  population,  and  began  to 
explore  the  mineral  wealths  of  the  Ourals.  Their  colonists  even 
passed  the  "  mountain  girdle,"  and  came  in  contact  with  the 
kingdom  of  Siberia.  The  Strogonofs,  as  audacious  as  the 
Spaniards,  dreamed  of  the.  conquest  of  this  vast  empire,  and  re- 
quested authority  of  the  Tzar  to  take  the  offensive  against  the 
Tatars.  To  fight,  an  army  was  necessary.  Russia  was  so  full 
of  vigor,  that  the  most  impure  elements  often  became  the  agents 
of  her  security  and  progress.  The  Good  Companions  of  the  Don 
had  more  than  once  excited  the  anger  of  the  Tzar  by  pillaging 
the  travellers  and  boats  on  the  royal  road  of  the  Volga.  They 
had  not  always  respected  the  possessions  of  the  Crown.  One 
of  these  brigand  chiefs,  the  Cossack  Irmak  Timofe'evitch,  obtained 
the  pardon  of  the  Tzar,  and  took  service  with  the  Strogonofs. 
At  the  head  of  850  men — Russians,  Cossacks,  Tatars,  German, 
and  Polish  prisoners  of  war — he  crossed  the  Ourals,  terrified 
the  natives  bv  the  noveltv  of  fire-arms,  traversed  the  immense 
untrodden  forests  of  Tobol,  defeated  the  Khan  Koutchoum  in 
many  battles,  took  Sibir,  his  capital,  and  made  his  cousin  Mamet- 
koul  prisoner.  Then  he  subjugated  the  banks  of  the  Irtych 
and  the  Obi,  and  consoled  the  last  years  of  the  Tzar  by  the 
news  that  he  had  conquered  him  a  new  kingdom,  and  added  to 
all  his  other  crowns  that  of  Siberia.  Ivan  also  sent  bishops  and 
priests  into  his  new  dominions.  Irniak,  after  having  finished  his 
conquest  and  thrown  open  the  communications  with  the  rich 
Bokhara,  only  survived  Ivan  a  short  time.  One  day  he  allowed 
himself  to  be  surprised  by  his  enemies,  and  sank  in  trying  to 
Bwim  the  Irtych,  from  the  weight  of  the  cuirass  given  him  by  the 


Cloth  Crown  called  "  The  Cap  of  Siberia. 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


207 


Tzar  (1584).  This  rival  of  I'izarro  and  Cortez,  the  co>iquisi,n/or 
of  a  new  world,  was  reckoned  a  hero  by  the  people,  and  is 
honored  as  a  saint  by  the  Church.  Miracles  were  accomplished 
at  his  tomb  ;  epic  songs  celebrated  his  exploits.  The  Tatars 
have  composed  a  whole  legend  about  him. 

If  Adachef  had  given  to  Russia  in  1551  her  first  municipal 
liberties,  Ivan  had  assembled  in  1556  the  first  States-general, 
composed  of  the  three  orders.  The  reformation  of  the  Church 
under  Silvester  was  completed  by  the  Council  of  1573,  which 
forbade  rich  convents  to  acquire  new  lands  ;  and,  by  the  Council 
of  1580,  extending  the  prohibition  to  all  convents.  The  Church 
could  no  longer  acquire  property.  Ivan  the  Terrible  restrained 
an  abuse  which  troubled  all  the  public  ceremonies,  and  more 
than  once  imperilled  the  success  of  battles.  We  know  how 
powerful,  in  the  Russia  of  the  i6th  century,  was  the  constitution 
of  the  family.  When  a  noble  rose  or  fell,  his  whole  family  rose 
or  fell  with  him  ;  even  the  memory  of  his  ancestors  and  the 
future  of  his  youngest  nephews  were  concerned.  This  is  the 
reason  why  a  Russian  noble  never  consented  to  occupy  an  in- 
ferior place,  if  no  precedents  on  the  subject  existed.  Court  and 
camp  were  constantly  disturbed  by  the  "  quarrels  of  precedence  " 
{fiiicstnikhestvd).  Neither  the  knout  nor  the  executioner's  axe 
could  subdue  their  resistance.  They  would  rather  die  than  dis- 
honor their  ancestors.  The  '  Books  of  Rank  '  were  consulted  on 
all  occasions,  to  know  the  respective  precedence  of  the  different 
families.  Ivan  IV.  forbade  all  disputes  of  rank  to  any  noble 
who  was  not  the  head  of  his  family.  This  was  only  to  restrain 
the  evil ;  it  had  yet  to  be  extirpated. 

Ivan  the  Terrible  mav  be  considered  as  the  founder  of  the 
National  Guard  of  the  streltsi  or  stniifz,  who  during  two  hundred 
years  rendered  great  services  to  the  empire. — He  also  organized, 
on  the  frontiers  threatened  by  the  Tatars,  a  series  of  posts  and 
camps  where  the  soldiers  of  the  country  might  be  exercised. 

He  gathered  strangers  about  him.  He  authorized  the  minister 
Wettermann,  of  Dorpat,  to  preach  at  Moscow,  listened  to  Eber- 
feld,  and  refused  a  discussion  with  Rosvita,  saving  that  he  would 
not  "  cast  pearls  before  swine."  He  permitted  the  erection  of 
the  first  Calvinist  and  Lutheran  churches  at  Moscow',  thus  an- 
ticipating the  toleration  of  the  i8th  century  ;  but,  on  seeing  the 
people's  dislike  to  them,  he  had  them  removed  two  versts  from 
the  capital. 

Ivan's  character  was  a  strange  compound  of  greatness  and 
barbarism.  Cruel,  dissolute,  superstitious,  we  see  him  by  turns 
yielding  himself,  with  his  favorites,  to  the  most  shameful  ex- 
cesses, or,  covered  with  a  monkish  garment,  heading  them  in 


2  o8  HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA. 

processions  and  other  pious  exercises.     Like  Henry  VIII, ,  he 

had  many  wives.  After  Anastasia  Romanof  he  married  a  bar- 
barian, the  Tcherkess  Maria;  next,  two  legitimate  wives;  then 
two  more  whose  union  the  Church  refused  to  sanction.  By  his 
seventh  wife,  Maria  Nagoi  he  had  a  son,  another  Dmitri.  At 
the  close  of  his  days  we  see  him  seeking  an  alliance  wiih 
foreigners,  and  asking  first  the  sister  of  the  King  of  Poland,  and 
then  a  cousin  of  Elizabeth  of  England,  in  marriage.  His  brutal 
habits  and  the  facility  with  which  he  used  his  iron  stafT,  had  a 
tragic  conclusion.  In  an  altercation  with  his  son  Ivan  he  struck 
him,  and  the  blow  was  mortal.  Great  and  fierce  was  the  sorrow 
of  the  Tzar.  In  slaying  his  beloved  son,  he  had  slain  his  own 
work.  He  had  no  longer  a  successor,  since  Feodor,  the  elder 
of  his  remaining  sons,  was  feeble  in  body  and  mind ;  and  the 
second  Dmitri  was  only  an  infant.  It  was  for  foreign  succes- 
sors— for  one  of  the  detested  boyards — that,  at  the  price  of  so 
much  blood  and  so  many  perils,  he  had  founded  autocracy.  He 
only  survived  his  son  three  years,  and  died  in  1584.  Without 
allowing  himself  to  be  biassed  by  Ivan's  numerous  cruelties,  the 
historian  ought  fairly  to  compare  him  with  men  of  his  own  time. 
He  ought  not  to  forget  that  the  i6th  century  is  the  century  of 
Henry  VIII.,  of  Ferdinand  the  Catholic,  of  Catherine  de  Medici, 
of  the  Inquisiiion,  of  Saint  Bartholomew,  and  oi  strapados.  Was 
the  Europe  of  this  era  indeed  so  far  advanced  beyond  Asiatic 
Russia,  newly  escaped  from  the  Mongol  yoke  ?  Ivan  the  Terrible, 
in  decimating,  in  suppressing,  in  tyrannizing  over  the  aristocracy, 
at  least  put  it  out  of  their  power  to  establish  after  him  that 
anarchic  fioblesse,  the  hidden  danger  of  Slav  nations,  which  in 
Poland,  under  the  name  of /6'x/6'///,?,  began  by  enfeebling  royalty, 
and  ended  by  enfeebling  the  nation. 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA, 


ao9 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

MUSCOVITE  RUSSIA  AND  THE  RENAISSANCE. 

The  Muscovite  government — The  kin  and  the  inen  of  the  'IV.ar — 'Y\\z  prikazes~- 
Rural  classes — Citizens — Commerce — Domestic  slavery —  Seclusion  ot 
women — The  Renaissance  ;  Literature,  popular  songs,  and  cathedrals- 
Moscow  in  the  i6th  century. 


MUSCOVITE    GOVERNMENT — THE    RELATIONS    AND    MEN    OF    THE 
TZAR — THE  PRIKAZES. 

The  Russia  of  the  i6th  and  lyih  centuries  is  an  Oriental 
state,  almost  without  relations  with  Europe.  The  Livonian 
knights,  the  Poles,  the  Swedes,  and  the  Danes,  who  understood 
that  it  was  only  her  barbarism  which  ensured  her  inferiority  to 
her  weaker  neighbors,  took  good  care  that  neither  the  men,  the 
arms,  nor  the  sciences  of  the  West  should  reach  her.  Sigismond 
threatened  the  English  merchants  of  the  Baltic  with  death.  He 
did  not  intend  that  "  the  Muscovite,  who  is  not  only  our  present 
adversary,  but  the  eternal  enemy  of  all  free  Slates,  should  pro- 
vide herself  with  guns,  bullets,  and  munitions  ;  and,  above  all, 
with  artisans  who  continue  to  make  arms,  hitherto  unknown  in 
this  barbaric  country."  Moscow,  thanks  to  those  jealous  precau- 
tions, thanks  also  to  the  hatred  of  the  Russians  for  the  "  Mus- 
sulmans "  and  "  heretics  "  of  the  West,  remained  what  the  Tatar 
invasions  had  made  her — an  Asiatic  Empire.  The  patriarchal  rule 
of  ancient  Slavonia  and  the  example  of  the  Oriental  sovereigns 
contributed  to  maintain  in  her  the  despotic  principle  in  all  its 
force.  The  Tzar  was  at  once  the  father  and  the  master  of  his 
subjects,  more  absolute  than  the  Khan  of  the  Tatars  or  the 
Sultan  of  Constantinople.  The  persons  and  the  goods  of  his 
subjects  were  his  property;  the  greatest  lords,  the  princes  de- 
scended from  Rurik,  were  only  his  slaves  ijiholopy).  A  petition 
in  Russian  signifies  a  "beating  of  the  forehead  "  (AV/Z/ir;/!'////). 
The  nobles  of  the  empire  signed  their  requests  not  with  their 
names,  Ivan  or  Peter,  but  with  a  lackey's  nickname,  a  servile  dim- 
niulive,  Vania  or  Pctrouchka.  The  Bvzantine  formula,  "  Mav  I 
speak  and  live  ? "  it>  exaggerated  in  the  Russian,  "  Bid  me  not  to 


2 1  o  HISTOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA. 

be  chastised  ;  bid  me  to  speak  a  word,"  Men  approached  the  Tzaf 
in  fear  and  trembling;  the  people  prostrated  themselves  before 
that  terrible  iron  staff  with  which  Ivan  was  always  armed.  He  con- 
sidered the  empire  as  his  private  property;  he  administered  it 
with  his  own  "  people,"  who  had  succeeded  to  the  droujiiia  of 
former  princes ;  he  governed  it  by  the  help  of  his  own  relations 
or  those  of  his  wife.  The  sons  of  the  greatest  lords  gloried  in 
serving  him  in  the  capacity  of  spalniki  or  gentlemen  of  the 
bedchamber,  and  siolniki  or  waiters  at  the  royal  table.  These 
domestic  functions  led  to  the  rank  of  boyards  ox  okolnitchie  (sur- 
rounders  of  the  prince.)  The  principal  boyards  formed  Xh^  douma 
or  council  of  the  empire,  assembled  in  the  chamber  of  the  prince, 
and  were  presided  over  by  him.  On  solemn  occasions  the  Jt'^ijr  or 
general  assembly  was  convoked,  which  was  composed  of  deputies 
from  all  the  orders,  and  was  a  sort  of  States-general  of  ancient 
Russia.  The  proud  Russian  aristocracy  did  not  allow  itself  tamely 
to  be  reduced  to  this  state  of  independence  ;  but  the  kniazes 
scattered  as  provincial  or  municipal  governors  through  Siberia, 
Kazan,  or  Astrakhan,  or  subjected  in  the  capital  to  rigorous 
surveillance,  had  become  powerless.  To  ensure  the  results  of 
their  cruel  policy,  the  successors  of  Ivan  IV.  forbade  the 
bearers  of  certain  too  illustrious  names  to  marry. 

When  the  Tzar  desired  to  marry,  he  addressed  a  circular  to 
the  governors  of  the  towns  and  provinces,  conunanding  them  to 
send  to  Moscow  the  most  beautiful  maidens  of  the  empire,  or 
at  all  events  those  of  noble  birth.  Like  Ahasuerus  in  the  Bible, 
like  the  Emperor  Theophilus  in  the  chronicles  of  Byzantium, 
like  Louis  the  Debonnaire  in  the  narrative  of  the  '  Astronomer,' 
he  made  his  selection  out  of  all  these  beauties.  Fifteen  hundred 
young  girls  were  assembled  for  Vassili  Ivanovitch  to  choose  from  ; 
after  the  first  meeting,  500  of  these  were  sent  to  Moscow.  The 
Grand  Prince  then  made  a  fresh  selection  of  300,  then  of  200, 
then  of  100,  then  of  10,  who  were  examined  bv  the  doctors  and 
midwives.  The  most  beautiful  and  the  healthiest  became  the 
Tzarina;  she  took  a  new  name,  as  a  sign  that  she  was  going  to 
begin  a  new  existence.  Her  father,  on  becoming  father-in  law 
of  the  Tzar,  also  changed  his  name  ;  her  relations  became  the 
nearest  relations  {prochcs)  of  the  prince,  constituted  his  compan- 
ions, undertook  the  care  of  everything,  and  governed  the  empire 
like  the  house  of  their  imperial  relative.  The  dispossessed  minis- 
ters and  friends  tried  in  secret  to  reconquer  their  lost  power  by 
putting  the  new  sovereign  to  death,  and  did  not  hesitate  to  have 
recourse  to  magic  and  poison.  Many  of  these  imperial  brides 
never  survived  their  triumphs,  and,  suddenly  attacked  by 
mysterious  maladies,  died  before  their  coronation  day.    All  the 


HISTOR  Y  OF  RUSSIA.  2 1 1 

successors  of  Vassili  Ivanovitch,  even  including  Alexis  Mikhai- 
lovitch,  instituted  these  assemblages  of  beauty  for  the  choice  of 
their  wives.  It  was  the  privilege  of  the  sovereigns  of  Moscow 
and  of  the  princes  of  their  blood. 

The  men  of  the  liroiijina  or  of  the  surrounding  oi  the  prince 
thought  it  beneath  their  dignity  or  above  their  power  to  servp 
him  otherwise  than  in  war  or  justice.  The  work  of  the  pen  had 
lo  be  confided  to  the  sons  of  the  priests  and  merchants — the  (Uak\ 
whose  beginnings  were  as  humble  as  those  of  the  Capetian  law 
yers,  seated  at  the  feet  of  the  peers  of  France  ;  like  them,  the\ 
ended  by  taking  the  place  of  the  great  lords.  The  administration 
of  the  State  was  entrusted  to  twenty  or  \\\\x\.y prikazes  or  bureaux, 
whose  numbers  and  functions  varied  at  different  times.  There 
was  notably  the p/ikaz  of  provisions,  that  of  drinks,  and  that  of 
the  pantry,  which  were  all  concerned  with  the  commissariat  of 
the  Court.  The  duties  were  very  heavy,  as  not  only  the  Tzar, 
the  Tzarina,  and  the  princes  of  the  blood  kept  an  open  table, 
but,  in  accordance  with  patriarchal  and  family  ideas,  the  prince 
was  supposed  to  feed  from  his  own  table  the  nobles  and  function- 
aries lodged  beyond  the  palace.  He  was  obliged  to  send  them 
daily,  cooked  meats,  wines,  and  fruits.  There  was  the  prikaz  oi 
the  gold  and  silver  cup,  that  of  the  wardrobe,  of  pharmacy,  of 
horses,  of  the  falconr)',  of  games,  to  w'hich  belonged  comedians 
buffoons,  dwarfs,  fools,  keepers  of  bears  and  dogs  ready  to 
fight  with  the  bears,  the  menagerie  of  rare  animals,  chess,  cards, 
and  in  general  everything  that  served  to  amuse  the  Tzai. 
The  prikaz  kazenuyi,  or  "  of  the  crown,"  had  under  its  con- 
trol the  manufactures  fabricating  the  golden  and  silken  stuffs, 
of  which  the  prince  had  a  monopoly,  and  the  depot  of  the  pre- 
cious Siberian  furs.  It  furnished  the  presents  to  be  distributed 
among  the  clergy,  the  boyards,  the  ambassadors  of  foreign  powers, 
and  the  Greek  monks  who  came  from  Byzantium  or  Mount  Allios, 
to  ask  for  alms.  ']^\\t  prikazes  of  the  great  palace,  of  the  quarter, 
of  the  revenue,  and  of  the  tax  on  liquors,  were  concerned  with 
the  finances.  There  were  also  those  of  the  imperial  family,  of 
secret  affairs,  of  petitions,  posts,  and  police  ;  of  the  buildings  of 
the  Tzar,  slaves,  monasteries,  streltsi,  embassies,  and  artillery. 
The  prikazcs  of  Oustiougue,  of  Kazan,  of  Galiich,  of  Kostroma^ 
of  Little  Russia,  and  Siberia,  had  a  territorial  competence. 
Usually  the  expenses  of  such  and  such  a  bureau  were  defrayed 
by  the  produce  of  taxes  on  a  given  town  or  province. 

The  State  revenues  were  composed  :  i.  Of  that  of  the  de- 
mesne, including  thirty-six  towns  and  their  territory,  the  inhabi- 
tants of  which  paid  their  dues  either  in  kind  or  in  money.  2. 
Of  the  ta§^h},  an  annual  impost  on  every  6o  measures  of  corn. 


2 1 2  HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA. 

3.  Of  the  fodaie,  a  fixed  tax  on  every  dvor  or  fire.  4.  The 
produce  of  the  custom-houses,  and  of  the  excess  of  the  municipal, 
dues.  5.  The  tax  on  the  public  baths.  6.  The  farming-out  of 
the  Crown  taverns,  7.  The  fines  and  expenses  of  justice,  the 
confiscations  pronounced  by  the  "tribunal  of  the  brigands." 
Fletcher,  who  visited  Russia  in  the  time  of  Boris  Godounof, 
valued  the  whole  of  these  revenues  at  1.223,000  roubles  of  their 
money.  The  Tzar  annually  receiv^ed  besides,  furs  and  othei 
things  from  Siberia,  Permia,  and  the  Petchora ;  he  exchangee: 
them  himself  with  the  Turkish,  Persian,  Armenian,  Bokharian 
or  Western  merchants,  who  came  to  the  fairs  or  landed  at  the 
ports  of  the  empire.  Further,  the  Crown,  after  having  allowec 
the  officers  to  gorge  themselves  some  time  at  the  expense  of  the 
people,  reserved  to  itself  the  power  of  calling  them  to  justice, 
and  of  depriving  them  of  part,  or  the  whole,  of  their  booty.  The 
Tzar,  who,  like  the  ancient  despots  of  Egypt  and  the  East,  had 
already  monopolized  certain  branches  of  commerce,  kept  up  an 
undignified  rivalry  with  his  own  subjects.  He  sent  agents  into 
special  provinces,  who  seized  on  all  the  productions  of  the  country, 
furs,  wax,  and  honey  ;  forced  the  proprietors  to  sell  them  to 
them  at  a  low  price,  and  then  obliged  the  English  of  Arkhangel 
or  the  merchants  of  Asia  to  buy  them  at  a  high  rate  ;  he  even  laid 
hands  on  the  goods  brought  by  these  merchants,  and  made  the 
Russian  tradesmen  pay  dear  for  them,  forbidding  them  to  pur 
chase  from  others  till  the  warehouses  of  the  Tzar  were  emptied. 
Fletcher  exposes  many  other  means  of  extortion,  to  which  the 
Tzarian  government  periodically  had  recourse. 

The  grades  of  courts  of  civil  justice  were  three  :  i.  The  tri- 
bunals of  the  starost  of  the  district,  and  of  the  hundred  men, 
a  magistrate  established  for  every  hundred  ploughs.  2.  The 
tribunal  of  the  voi'evode,  in  the  head-city  of  each  province. 
3.  The  Supreme  Court  of  Moscow.  In  spite  of  the  Codes  of 
Ivan  III.  and  Ivan  IV.,  the  law  was  so  confused  and  uncertain 
that  Fletcher  said  of  it,  "There  is  no  written  law  in  Russia." 
The  mode  of  procedure  was  that  of  the  Carolingian  age  ;  if  a 
man  could  neither  produce  witnesses  nor  written  proofs,  the 
judge  could  take  the  oath  of  one  of  the  parties.  Often  the  value 
of  an  oath  was  confirmed  by  a  judicial  duel.  The  champions, 
says  Herberstein,  loaded  themselves  with  arms  and  heavy 
armor.  They  were  so  embarrassed  by  all  this  weight  of  iron, 
that  a  Russian  was  invariably  overcome  by  a  foreigner,  and  Ivan 
III.  forbade  foreigners  to  fight  with  his  subjects.  Often  the 
parties  had  themselves  represented  by  hired  champions,  and 
then  the  combat  became  a  comedy,  the  mercenaries  only  think- 
ing how  to  spare  themselves. 


HISTOR  Y  OF  R USSFA.  2 1 3 

The  legislation  in  the  matter  of  debts  equalled  in  rigor  that 
of  the  Roman  law  of  the  Twelve  Tables.  The  insolvent  debtor 
was  subjected  to  \\\q.  pfavc'^^e ;  that  is,  tied  up  half-naked  on  a 
public  place,  and  beaten  three  hours  a  day.  This  punishment 
was  repeated  for  thirty  or  forty  days.  If  by  that  time  no  one 
was  moved  by  his  lamentations  and  cries  to  pay  his  debt  for  him 
he  was  allowed  to  be  sold,  and  his  wife  and  children  let  out  to 
hire;  if  he  had  none,  he  became  the  slave  of  the  creditor.  The 
penal  legislation  was  frightful.  In  cases  of  accusation  of  theft, 
murder,  or  treason,  the  accused  was  subjected  to  tortures  worthy 
of  a  Spanish  Inquisitor.  The  punishments  were  infinitely  varied: 
a  man  might  be  hung,  beheaded,  broken  on  the  wheel,  impaled, 
drowned  under  the  ice,  or  knouted  to  death.  A  wife  who  had 
murdered  her  husband  "  was  buried  alive  up  to  her  neck  ;  " 
liL-retics  went  to  the  stake;  sorcerers  were  burned  alive  in  an 
iron  cage  ;  coiners  had  liquid  metal  poured  down  their  throats. 
We  must  not  forget  the  death  of  "  ten  thousand  pieces,"  the  tor- 
ment in  which  the  sides  were  torn  away  by  iron  hooks,  and  all 
the  varieties  of  mutilation.  On  the  other  hand,  a  noble  who 
slew  a  mougik  was  only  fined  or  whipped.  The  noble  who  killed 
his  slave  suffered  no  penalty  ;  he  could  do  what  he  liked  with 
his  own. 

Before  the  creation  of  the  patriarchate,  the  highest  dignity  in 
the  Russian  Church  was  that  of  the  Metropolitan  of  Moscow. 
Then  came  the  six  Archbishops  of  Novgorod,  Rostof,  Smolensk, 
Kazan,  Pskof,  and  Volog.'la;  the  six  Bishops  of  Riazan,  Tver, 
Kolomenskod,  Vladimir,  Souzdal,  and  Kroutiski  or  SaraT,  whose 
dioceses  were  immense.  This  Church  was  as  dependent  on  the 
Tzar  as  that  of  Byzantium  had  been  on  the  Emperors  ;  at  the 
expense  of  a  few  formalities  he  could  create  a  prelate  or  a  new 
see.  The  bishops  were  selected  from  the  Black  Clergy  ;  that 
is,  the  monks  who  had  taken  the  vow  of  chastity.  Their  reve- 
nues were  large  and  their  ceremonies  imposing.  "  As  for  exliort- 
ing  or  instructing  their  sheep,"  says  Fletcher,""  they  have  neither 
the  habit  of  it  nor  the  talent  for  it,  for  all  the  clergy  are  as  pro- 
foundly ignorant  of  the  Word  of  God  as  of  all  other  learning." 
With  the  secular  or  White  Clergy,  marriage  was  not  only  a  right, 
but  a  duty.  Their  manners  and  education  hardly  distinguished 
them  from  the  peasants,  and  like  them,  they  were  sometimes 
subjected  to  the  most  degrading  chastisements.  The  convents 
were  numerous,  very  full,  and  very  rich  ;  that  of  St.  Sergius,  at 
Troitsa,  possessed  1 10.000  souls, — that  is,  male  peasants.  All 
broken  men  took  refuge  there  ;  on  the  other  hand,  the  councils 
fulminated  against  the  vagabond  monks  who  infested  the  country. 
More  than  once  the  monasteries  served  as  prisons  for  disgraced 


214 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


nobles,  who  there  led  a  gay  and  noisy  life,  like  the  Frank  nobles 
of  other  days  in  the  cloisters  of  the  Merovingian  churches. 
Delicate  meats  were  sent  them  from  the  table  of  the  Tzar — stur- 
geons, sterlets,  figs,  dry  raisins,  oranges,  pepper,  and  saffron. 

In  a  letter  to  the  monks  of  St.  Cyril  on  the  White  Lake,  Ivan 
IV.  blames  with  a  mixture  of  severity  and  irony  their  lenity 
towards  the  imprisoned  boyards.  "  In  my  youth,"  he  writes- 
"  when  we  were  at  St.  Cyril,  if  dinner  happened  to  be  late,  and 
if  the  intendant  asked  a  sterlet  or  any  other  fish  of  the  cellarer, 
he  would  reply,  '  I  have  no  orders  about  it ;  I  have  only  prepared 
what  I  was  ordered.  Now  it  is  night,  and  I  can  give  you  nothing  ; 
I  fear  the  sovereign,  but  I  fear  God  more.'  "  "  See,"  continues 
Ivan,  "  what  was  the  severity  of  the  rule.  They  fulfilled  the  vvor6 
of  the  prophet :  '  Speak  the  truth,  and  have  no  shame  before  the 
Tzar.'  To-dav  my  boyard  Cheremetief  reigns  in  his  cell  like  a 
Tzar ;  mv  boyard  Khabarof  pays  him  visits  with  the  monks- 
They  drink  as  if  in  lay  society.  Is  it  a  wedding  ?  is  it  a  baptism  ? 
The  captive  distributes  pieces  of  iced  fruits,  spiced  bread,  and 
sweetmeats.  Beyond  the  monastery  there  is  a  house  filled  with 
provisions.  Some  say  that  strong  drinks  are  gradually  smug- 
gled into  the  cell  of  Cheremetief.  Now  in  monasteries  it  is 
against  the  rules  to  have  foreign  wines  ;  how  much  more,  then, 
strong  waters.?  " 

The  orthodox  faith,  deprived  of  the  stimulus  of  liberty  and 
instruction,  tended  to  become  mere  routine.  Salvation  was 
gained  by  hearing  long  liturgies,  by  multiplying  Slavonic  orisons, 
by  making  hundreds  of  prostrations  and  genuflexions,  by  telling 
rosaries,  and  by  frequenting  shrines.  The  most  celebrated 
centres  were  the  catacombs  of  Kief,  where  slept  the  incorrupti- 
ble bodies  of  the  saints,  and  where  dwell  their  successors  with- 
out ever  seeing  the  light  of  day  ;  the  monastery  of  St.  Cyril,  on 
the  White  Lake  ;  of  St.  Sergius,  at  Troitsa ;  and  the  cathedral 
of  St.  Sophia,  at  Novgorod.  Men  prostrated  themselves  at  the 
tombs  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Alexis  of  Moscow  ;  before  the  won- 
der-working virgins  of  Vladimir,  Smolensk,  Tischvin,  and  Pskof. 
The  most  pious  journeyed  as  far  as  the  sacred  Mount  Athos, 
and  the  city  of  Constantinople,  full  of  blessed  relics,  though  pol- 
luted by  the  presence  of  the  Turk;  nay,  further  still,  to  the  tomb 
of  Cnrist,  to  Golgotha,  to  Mount  Sinai,  wherever  orthodox  com- 
munities disputed  possession  with  Catholic  communities. 

The  national  army  was,  like  the  Tatar  army,  chiefly  com- 
posed of  cavalry.  The  sto/niki,  spalniki,  and  other  young  cour- 
tiers, formed  an  Imperial  Guard  of  about  8000  men.  All  the 
gentlemen  of  the  empire,  dvoriane,  or  dieti-boyarskie,  were  con- 
fined to  the  mounted  ranks ;  the  revenues  of  their  lands  were 


HISTOK  Y  OF  RUSSIA.  2  i  5 

coiUited  a,>  pJly  for  these  vicn  of  service  {sloujilii  lioudi)  ;  the  an- 
:;ient  distinction  between  the  pomestie  (fiefs)  and  the  votchiny 
(free  allods)  was  ahnost  abolished.  It  was  nearly  the  rcgitfte  of 
the  fiefs  of  the  West,  or  of  the  ziams  and  tunars  of  'I'urkey. 
I  his  noble  cavalry  could  reckon  80,000  horsemen  ;  with  the 
levy  of  free  peasants,  it  mounted  up  to  300,000.  To  this  we 
must  join  the  irregular  cavalry,  composed  of  the  Cossacks  of  the 
Don  and  the  Terek,  of  Tatars  and  Bachkirs.  The  national  in- 
fantry was  constituted — i,  by  the  datolchnic  lioudi^  peasants  of 
the  monasteries,  churches,  and  domains  ;  2,  by  the  stre/tsi,  free 
archers,  or  comnuuial  soldiers,  organized  in  the  time  of  Ivan  IV., 
and  who,  in  Moscow  alone,  formed  a  body  of  12,000  men.  Then 
came  the  artillery,  and  the  soldiers  told  off  to  the  goulia'igorod, 
J^e  "city  that  walks,"  movable  ramparts  of  wood,  which  were 
used  both  in  sieges  and  in  the  open  country,  where  the  Russian 
troops,  if  they  were  not  protected,  showed  little  firmness.  In 
the  15th  century,  foreign  mercenaries  began  to  be  enlisted — 
Poles,  Hungarians,  Greeks,  Turks,  Scotch,  Scandinavians, 
armed  and  disciplined  after  the  European  fashion,  and  enrolled 
under  the  names  of  rittcrs,  soldiers,  and  dragoons.  History  has 
preserved  the  names  of  some  of  their  leaders :  Rosen  the  Ger- 
man, and  Margeret  the  Frenchman,  who  has  left  us  some  curious 
memoirs  of  the  False  Dmitri. 

The  equipment  of  the  national  troops  was  completely  Oriental. 
They  had  long  robes,  high  saddles,  short  stirrups,  rich  capari- 
sons, scale  or  ring  armor.  The  Tzar  himself  went  into  battle 
with  his  lance,  bow  and  quiver.  The  army  was  always  divided 
into  five  divisions — the  main  army,  the  right  and  left  wings,  the 
van  and  rear  guards.  Each  was  commanded  bv  two  voievodes 
of  unequal  rank,  without  counting  the  voievode  of  the  artillery 
or  of  the  movable  camp,  and  the  atatiiaiis  of  the  streltsi  and  of 
the  Cossacks.  The  grades  of  the  regular  army  were  those  of 
the  tysatski  or  chiliarch,  the  centurion,  the  commander  of  fifty, 
and  the  deciatski,  or  commander  of  ten.  All  obeyed  the  grand 
voievode,  or  general-in-chief.  Each  soldier  brought  provisions 
for  four  months,  and  the  Tzar  furnished  nothing,  except  oc- 
casionally some  corn.  The  men  lived  almost  entirely  on  biscuit, 
dried  fish  or  bacon,  and  proved  capable  of  enduring  much 
fatigue.  The  campaigns  never  lasted  long,  and  only  part  of  the 
army  was  permanent. 

From  this  time  Russia  sought  to  enter  into  regular  relations 
with  foreign  Powers.  Her  diplomatic  traditions  were  those  of 
the  East  or  Byzantium.  Her  first  ambassadors  were  the  Greek 
Dmitri  Trakhaniotes,  and  the  Italian  Marco  Ruffo,  sent  into 
Persia.      They  treated  with  most  deference  the   neighboring 


2 1 6  HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  US  SI  A. 

States,  not  those  which  were  most  powerful.  Whilst  they  sent 
a  simple  courier  {gonets)  to  the  Emperor,  and  the  kings  of  France, 
England,  and  Spain,  they  despatched  boyards,  accompanied  by 
(h'aks,  to  Sweden,  Denmark,  and  Poland.  Tht  prikaz  oi  the  em- 
bassies, which  had  under  its  orders  iifty  translators  and  seventy 
interpreters  of  all  languages,  gave  them  their  safe  conduct,  de- 
tailed instructions,  letters  for  the  foreign  sovereign,  presents, 
two  years'  pay,  and  a  certain  number  of  furs  of  costly  materials 
from  xh&J)rikaz  of  the  Crown,  which  they  were  to  do  their  best 
to  sell  at  a  high  price.  The  Russian  ambassador,  like  tiiose  of 
the  Greeks  and  Tatars,  was  also  a  commission  agent  for  the 
benefit  of  the  Tzar.  The  envoys  were  recommended  to  avoid 
all  insolence,  and  to  watch  their  men,  but  to  display  the  greatest 
luxury,  to  exact  due  payment  of  all  honors,  and,  at  the  peril  of 
their  lives,  never  to  suffer  the  Tzar's  titles  to  be  diminished — 
titles  which  were  rather  complicated,  as  he  enumerated  all  his 
subject  States.  The  mercantile  preoccupations  of  the  Russian 
ambassadors,  and  their  eternal  quarrels  about  etiquette,  rendered 
them  unbearable  at  all  the  European  Courts.  On  their  return 
tiiey  were  summoned  before  the  Tzar,  gave  him  a  detailed  ac- 
count of  their  mission,  and  handed  over  to  him  the  journal  of 
their  tour  and  the  notes  of  all  that  they  had  observed  in  the  dis- 
tant countries.  From  the  i6th  century  a  shrewd  and  observant 
s|)irit  is  noticeable  in  their  relations,  which  is  not  unworthy  of 
the  wisdom  of  their  masters,  the  B}zantines. 

When  foreign  ambassadors  arrived  in  Russia,  they  were 
treated  with  magnificence  and  distrust.  From  the  time  they 
crossed  the  frontier,  they  and  their  people  were  fed,  housed,  and 
provided  with  carriages,  but  a /;■/>/(?/ attached  to  their  persons 
watched  carefully  that  they  obtained  no  interviews  with  the 
natives,  nor  information  about  the  state  of  the  country.  They 
were  taken  through  the  richest  and  most  populous  provinces  ; 
the  citizens  were  everywhere  required  to  meet  them  on  their 
route,  dressed  in  iheir  costliest  clothes.  At  Moscow  a  palace  of 
the  Tzar  was  assigned  them  as  a  residence,  and  they  were  fed 
from  his  table.  Their  first  interview  took  place  with  great  pomp 
in  the  Palace  of  Facets  {Granavitaia  pala'id).  The  walls  of  the 
hall  were  hung  with  magnificent  tapestries  ;  gold  and  silver 
vessels,  of  Asiatic  form,  shone  on  the  dais.  The  Tzar,  crown  on 
head,  sceptre  in  hand,  seated  on  the  throne  of  Solomon,  sup- 
ported by  the  mechanical  lions,  which  roared  loudly,  surrounded 
by  his  rytidis  in  long  white  caftans  and  armed  with  the  great 
silver  axe,  by  his  sumptuously-dressed  boyards,  and  by  his  clergy 
in  their  simple  costume,  received  their  letters  of  credit.  He 
asked  the  ambassador  for  news  of  his  master,  and  how  he  had 
travelled.     If  the  Tzar  were  not  contented  with  him,  the  am- 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


217 


bassadors'  palace  became  a  prison  where  no  native  might  pene- 
trate, and  carefully-studied  humiliations  were  practised  to  extract 
from  him  concessions  or  to  abridge  his  stav. 

THE   RURAL   CLASSES — CITIZENS    OF   THE   TOWNS — COMMERCE. 

The  lower  classes  of  Muscovy  were  composed  of  three  ele- 
ments : — I.  The  slave,  01  kholop,  properly  so  called,  the  7naniip- 
iiim  of  the  Romans,  a  man  taken  in  war,  sold  by  himself  or  some 
one  else,  or  son  of  a  kliolop.  2.  The  peasant  inscribed  on  the 
lands  of  a  noble,  the  co/oniis  adscriptius  of  the  Roman  Empire, 
whose  person  was  legally  free,  but  who  was  to  be  reduced  by 
means  of  a  more  and  more  rigorous  legislation  to  the  condition 
of  krepostnyi  or  serf  of  the  glebe.  3.  The  free  cultivator,  who 
live-d  like  a  farmer  on  the  lands  of  another,  and  had  the  right  to 
change  his  master,  but  who  was  soon  to  be  mingled  with  the 
preceding  class. 

It  was  the  inscribed  peasants  who  constituted  almost  the  whole 
of  the  rural  population.  In  the  ancient  provinces  tlie  peasant 
might  consider  himself  as  the  primitive  inhabitant  of  the  soil. 
He  was  only  made  subject  to  the  gentleman  in  order  to  secure 
to  the  latter  an  income  sufficient  for  militarv  service:  he  there- 
fore  continued  to  look  on  himself  as  the  true  proprietor.  In 
these  rural  masses,  the  primitive  features  of  the  Slav  organiza- 
tion were  preserved  in  all  their  vigor.  It  was  the  commune,  or 
w/>,  and  not  the  individuals,  who  possessed  the  land  ;  it  was  the 
commune  that  was  responsible  to  the  Tzar  for  the  tax,  for  the 
cori'e'e  and  dues  to  the  lord.  This  responsibility  armed  the  com- 
mune with  an  enormous  power  over  its  members,  and  this  power 
embodied  itself  in  the  starost,  assisted  by  elders.  In  the  bosom 
of  the  commune  the  family  was  not  organized  less  severely,  less 
tyrannically  than  the  mir.  The  father  of  the  family  had  over  his 
wife,  his  sons,  married  or  single,  and  their  wives,  an  authority 
almost  as  absolute  as  that  of  the  starost  over  the  commune,  or 
the  Tzar  over  the  empire.  The  paternal  authority  became 
harder  and  more  stern  from  the  contact  with  serfafre  and  the 
despotic  rule.  Ancient  barbarism  was  still  intact  among  these 
ignorant  people  :  the  graceful  customs  or  the  savage  manners, 
the  poetic  or  cruel  superstitions  of  the  early  Slavs,  were  perpet- 
uated by  thein.  The  Russian  peasant  remained  a  pagan  under 
his  veneer  of  orthodoxy.  His  funeral  songs  seem  destitute  of 
all  Christian  hope.  His  marriage  songs  preserve  the  tradition 
of  the  purchase  or  capture  of  the  bride.  The  sad  lot  of  the 
rustic  was  vet  to  be  aggravated  during  the  three  centuries  of 
progress  which  the  upper  classes  had  still  to  accomplish.     In 


2 1 8  tfIS  TO  A'  Y  OF  R  USS/A. 

view  of  the  State,  as  of  the  proprietor,  he  tended  more  and  more 
to  become  a  beast  of  burden,  a  produciive  force  to  be  used  and 
abused  at  pleasure. 

The  Russian  towns  were  composed  first  of  a  fortress  or 
kref/il,  where  at  need  a  garrison  of  "men  of  the  service  "  could 
be  sent,  the  walls  being  generally  of  wood  ;  next  of  faubourgs  or 
possads,  inhabited  by  the  citizens  or  possadskie.  They  were 
governed  by  voievodes  nominated  by  the  prince,  or  by  a  starost 
or  mayor  who  was  elected  by  an  assembly  of  the  inhabitants, 
nobles,  priests,  or  citizens,  but  was  always  a  gentleman.  The 
starost  governed  the  town  and  the  district  depending  on  it.  As 
the  citizens  paid  the  heaviest  taxes,  they  were  forbidden  to  quit 
the  town  ;  they  were,  as  during  the  last  days  of  the  Roman  Em- 
pire, bound  to  the  city  glebe.  Alexis  Mikhailovitch  was  after- 
wards to  attach  the  pain  of  death  to  this  prohibition.  To  assess 
the  impost,  the  starost  convoked  at  once  both  the  deputies  of 
the  town  and  those  of  the  rural  communes.  The  impost  of  the 
tagla  was  paid  by  the  town  collectively,  in  proportion  to  the 
number  of  fires,  and  all  the  people  were  collectively  responsible 
for  each  other  to  the  State. 

In  the  burgess  class  may  be  counted  the  merchants,  whose 
Russian  name  of  gosti  (guests  and  strangers)  shows  how  far 
commerce  still  was  from  being  acclimatized  in  this  land  and 
under  this  feg'niie.  Muscovy  produced  in  abundance  leather 
from  oxen  ;  furs  from  the  blue  and  black  fox,  the  zioeline,  the 
beaver,  and  the  ermine  ;  wax,  honey,  hemp,  tallow,  oil  from  the 
seal,  and  dried  fish.  From  China,  Bokhara,  and  Persia,  she  re- 
ceived silks,  tea,  and  spices.  The  Russian  people  are  naturally 
intelligent  and  industrious,  but  still  commerce  languished. 
Fletcher,  the  Englishman,  has  assigned  as  the  reason  for  this 
decav,  the  insecuritv  created  bv  anarchv  and  despotism.  The 
mougik  did  not  care  either  to  save  or  to  lay  by.  He  pretended 
to  be  poor  and  miserable,  to  escape  the  exactions  of  the  prince 
and  the  plunder  of  his  agents.  If  he  had  money,  he  buried  it, 
as  one  in  fear  of  an  invasion.  "  Often,"  says  the  English 
writer,  "  you  will  see  them  trembling  with  fear,  lest  a  boyard 
should  know  what  thev  have  to  sell.  I  have  seen  them  at  times, 
when  they  had  spread  out  their  wares  so  that  you  might  make  a 
better  choice,  look  all  round  them,  as  if  they  feared  an  enemy 
would  surprise  them  and  lay  hands  on  them.  If  I  asked  them 
the  cause,  they  would  say  to  me,  '  I  was  afraid  there  might  be  a 
noble  or  one  of  the  "  sons  of  boyards  "  here  ;  they  would  take 
away  my  merchandise  by  force.'  "  "  The  merchants  and  the 
citizens,"  savs  M.  Lerov-T>eaulieu,  "  could  with  difhcultv  become 
a  powerful  class  in  a  country  cut  off  from  Europe  and  the  sea, 


HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSTA.  2  1 9 

and  cut  off,  too,  from  all  great  commercial  routes  by  the  Liiiui- 
aiiians,  the  Teutonic  Order,  and  the  Tatars."  The  citizen,  like  the 
inhabitant  of  the  French  towns  of  the  14th  century,  was  only  a 
sort  of  villain  ;  he  wore  the  costume  of  a  peasant,  and  lived 
almost  like  him.  The  merchants  were  really  what  they  were 
called  by  Ivan  the  Terrible — the  mougiks  of  commerce. 


DOMESTIC   SLAVERY — THE   SECLUSION    OF   WOMEN. 

Only  two  more  facts  were  needed  to  give  to  Russian  society 
the  same  Asiatic  character  which  we  noted  already  in  the  des- 
potism of  the  Tzars  and  the  communism  of  the  people  :  domestic 
slaverv,  and  the  seclusion  of  women. 

Besides  the  peasants  more  or  less  attached  to  the  glebe,  all 
Russian  proprietors  kept  in  their  castles,  or  in  their  town-houses 
at  Moscow,  a  multitude  of  servants  like  those  who  encumbered 
the  senators'  palaces  in  imperial  Rome.  A  great  lord  always 
gathered  round  him  many  hundreds  of  these  dvorovie\  both  men 
and  women,  bought  or  born  in  the  house,  whom  he  never  paid, 
whom  he  fed  badlv,  and  who  served  him  badlv  in  return,  but 
whose  numbers  served  to  give  an  idea  of  the  wealth  of  their 
master.  The  cortege  of  a  noble  on  his  way  to  the  Kremlin  may 
be  compared  to  that  of  a  Japanese  daimio.  A  long  file  of 
sledges  or  chariots,  a  hundred  horses,  outriders  who  made  the 
people  stand  back  by  blows  with  their  whips  ;  a  crowd  of  armed 
men,  who  escorted  the  noble  ;  and  behind  a  host  of  dvorovie, 
often  with  naked  feet  beneath  their  magnificent  liveries,  filled 
with  their  stir  and  noise  the  stro-Qts  oi  Bicly i-go rod.  These  dom- 
estic slaves  were  subjected,  without  distinction  of  sex,  to  the 
most  severe  discipline,  and  were  forced  to  submit  to  all  the  cruel 
or  voluptuous  caprices  of  their  masters,  and,  like  the  slaves  of 
antiquity,  were  exposed  to  the  most  frightful  chastisements. 
Whilst  the  registered  colon  was  attached  to  the  land,  the  kJwIopy 
could  be  sold,  either  by  heads  or  by  families,  without  compunc- 
tion. Wives  were  separated  from  their  husbands,  and  children 
from  their  parents. 

The  custom  of  secluding  women  is  older  than  the  Tatar 
invasion.  The  Russian  Slavs  were  Asiatics,  even  before  they 
were  subdued  bv  the  MoutoIs.  Bvzantium  had  likewise  far 
more  influence  than  Kazan  on  Russian  manners.  Now,  in 
ancient  Athens,  and  in  the  Constantinople  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
the  matron  and  the  young  girl  were  alike  obliged  to  remain 
in  the  gyn(sa-um,  which  became  in  Moscow  the  terem  or  vcrkh 
(upper  apartment).     In  Russia,  as  in  the  Rome  of  the  Twelve 


220  HISTOR  V  OF  RVSS/A. 

Tables,  the  woman  was  always  a  minor.  This  was  one  con- 
sequence of  the  patriarchal  organization  of  the  family.  She 
always  remained  under  the  guardianship  of  her  father,  her  hus- 
band's father,  an  uncle,  an  elder  brother,  or  a  grandfather.  The 
Russian  monks  translated  for  her  use  the  sermons  of  the  monks 
of  the  Lower  Empire,  which  enjoined  the  wife  "  to  obey  her 
husband  as  the  slave  obevs  his  master  :  "  to  consider  herself 
only  as  the  "  property  of  the  man  ;  "  never  to  allow  herself  to 
be  c-aWtd  gospoja,  or  mistress,  but  to  look  on  her  husband  as  her 
gospodine  or  lord.  The  father  of  the  family  had  the  right  to 
correct  her,  like  one  of  his  children  or  slaves.  The  priest  Sil- 
vester, in  his  '  Domostroi,'  only  advises  him  not  to  employ  too 
thick  sticks,  or  staffs  tipped  with  iron  ;  nor  humiliate  her  unduly 
by  whipping  her  before  his  men,  but,  without  anger  or  violence, 
to  correct  her  moderately  in  private.  No  woman  dared  to  ob- 
ject to  this  chastisement  ;  the  most  robust  would  allow  herself 
calmly  to  be  beaten  by  a  feeble  husband. 

The  Russian  proverb  says,  "  I  love  thee  like  my  soul,  and  I 
dust  thee  like  my  jacket."  Herberstein  mentions  a  Muscovite 
woman  who,  having  married  a  foreigner,  did  not  believe  herself 
loved,  as  he  never  beat  her.  At  home  the  Russian  woman  was 
hid  behind  the  curtains  of  the  icfiDi  ;  in  the  street,  hy^  those  of 
her  litter.  Over  her  face  fell  ihQ  fata,  a  sort  of  nun's  veil.  It 
was  an  outrage  even  to  raise  the  eyes  to  the  wife  of  a  noble, 
and  high  treason  to  see  the  face  of  the  wife  of  the  Tzar.  A 
stranger  might  have  thought  himself  at  Stamboul  or  Ispahan.  It 
appeared  so  highly  necessary  that  this  fragile  being  should  re- 
main at  home,  that  she  was  allowed  to  dispense  even  with  going 
to  church.  Her  church  was  her  own  house,  where  she  had  to 
occupy  herself  with  prayers,  pious  reading,  prostrations,  genu- 
flexions, and  alms,  and  was  surrounded  by  beggars,  monks,  and 
nuns.  The  priest  Silvester  also  wished  her  to  superintend  her 
house,  be  the  first  to  rise,  to  watch  over  her  men  and  maid-, 
servants,  to  distribute  their  tasks,  and  work  herself  with  hei 
own  hands,  like  Lucrece  of  old,  or  the  wise  women  of  the 
Proverbs.  In  reality  she  had  many  other  ways  of  occupying 
her  time  The  toilette  of  the  Russian  boyarines  was  very  com- 
plicated. •'  They  paint  themselves  all  colors,"  says  Petrel  ; 
"  not  only  their  faces,  but  their  eyes,  neck,  and  hands.  They  lay 
on  white,  red,  blue,  and  black.  Black  eyelashes  they  tint  white,  and 
white  ones  black,  or  some  dark  color,  but  they  put  on  the  paint 
so  badly  that  it  is  visible  to  every  one.  At  the  time  of  my  visit 
to  Moscow  the  wife  of  an  illustrious  boyard,  who  was  exceed- 
ingly beautiful,  declined  to  paint  herself,  but  she  was  an  object 
of  scorn  to  all  the  other  women.     '  She  despises  our  customs,' 


HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA.  221 

said  they.  They  induced  their  husbands  to  complain  to  the 
Tzar,  and  oblained  an  imperial  order  to  make  her  paint.'' 
Stoutness  was  the  ideal  of  Turkish  and  Tatar  beauty,  so  the 
Russians  did  all  in  their  power  to  deform  their  slender  figures, 
and,  by  means  of  idleness  and  drugs,  managed  to  succeed.  As 
to  the  men,  they  always  wore  a  long  beard  and  long  dresses. 
To  shave  the  beard  like  the  European  nations,  was,  said  Ivan  the 
Terrible,  "  a  sin  that  the  blood  of  all  the  martvrs  could  not 
cleanse.  Was  it  not  to  deface  the  image  of  man,  created  by 
God  ? " 

The  influence  of  Byzantine  monachism  is  also  to  be  found 
in  the  objection  to  all  innocent  amusements.  Cards,  and  even, 
chess,  were  forbidden  ;  music  and  songs  glorifying  the  ancient 
heroes  of  Russia  were  condemned  as  "  diabolic  "  ;  the  noble 
exercises  of  the  chase  and  dancing  were  not  allowed.  "  If  they 
give  themselves  up  at  table,"  says  the  '  Domostroi,"  "  to  filthy 
conversation  ;  if  they  play  the  lute  or  the  goussla  ;  if  they  dance, 
or  jump,  or  clap  their  hands,  then,  as  smoke  chases  the  bees, 
the  angels  of  God  are  made  to  fly  from  that  table  by  those 
devilish  words,  and  demons  take  their  place.  Those  who  give 
themselves  up  to  diabolic  songs  ;  those  who  play  the  lute,  the 
tambourine,  or  the  trumpet  ;  those  who  amuse  themselves  with 
bears,  dogs,  and  falcons — with  dice,  chess,  or  tric-trac,  will  to- 
gether go  to  hell,  and  together  will  be  damned." 

Thanks  to  the  general  ignorance,  there  was  no  intellectual 
life  in  Russia  ;  thanks  to  the  seclusion  of  women,  there  was  no 
society.  Compared  with  the  gallant  and  witty  society  of  Poland, 
Russia  seems  a  vast  monastery.  The  devil  lost  nothing  in  the 
long  run.  The  nobles,  living  in  the  midst  of  slaves  subjected 
to  their  caprices,  degraded  themselves  while  they  degraded  their 
victims.  Debauchery  and  drunkenness  were  the  national  sins. 
Rich  and  poor,  young  and  old,  women  and  children,  often 
dropped  down  dead  drunk  in  the  streets,  without  surprising  any- 
one. The  priests,  in  their  visits  to  their  sheep,  got  theologically 
drunk.  "  Even  at  the  houses  of  the  great  lords,"  says  M. 
Zabieline,  "  no  feast  was  gay  and  jo3-ous  unless  every  one  was 
drunk.  Tt  was  precisely  in  drunkenness  that  the  gayety  con- 
sisted. The  guests  were  never  gay  if  they  were  not  drunk." 
Even  to-day,  "  to  be  merry  "  signifies  to  have  been  drinking. 
The  preachers,  even,  while  attacking  the  national  vice,  touched  it 
delicately.  "  My  brothers,"  says  one  of  them,  "  what  is  worse 
than  drunkenness  ?  You  lose  memory  and  reason,  like  a  mad- 
man, who  knows  not  what  he  does.  Is  this  mirth,  my  friends, 
mirth  according  to  the  law  and  glory  of  God  ?  The  drunkard 
is  senseless.     He  lies  like  a  corpse.      If  you  speak  to  him,  he 


2  ?  2  HIS  TOR  V  OF  R  USSIA. 

does  not  answer,  He  foams,  he  stinks,  he  grunts  like  a  brute. 
Think  of  his  jDoor  soul  which  grows  foul  in  its  vile  body,  which 
is  its  prison.  Drunkenness  sends  our  guardian  angels  away, 
and  makes  the  devil  merry.  To  be  drunk,  is  to  perform  sacri- 
fices to  Satan.  The  devil  rejoices,  and  says,  '  No  ;  the  sacri- 
fices of  the  pagans  never  caused  me  half  so  much  joy  and  happi- 
ness as  the  intoxicaiion  of  a  Christian.'  Fly,  then,  my  brothers, 
the  curse  of  drunkenness.  To  drink  is  lawful,  and  is  to  the 
glory  of  God,  who  has  given  us  wine  to  make  us  rejoice.  The 
Fathers  were  far  from  forbidding  wine,  but  we  must  never  drink 
ourselves  drunk." 

Their  only  diversions  were,  in  spite  of  the  '  Domostroi,'  the 
jests  of  the  buffoons,  who,  like  the  writers  of  the  French  fa- 
bliaux, never  spared  Churchmen  ;  the  coarse  pleasantries  of  court 
fools  ?Ly\d/oI/fs,  who  were  the  inseparable  companions  of  the  great, 
and  were  to  be  found  even  in  the  monasteries  ;  hunts  with  falcons 
and  hounds,  and  bear  fights.  All  these  festivities  were  accom- 
panied with  music,  and  sometimes  a  blind  singer  would  come 
and  celebrate  the  bogatyrs  of  Old  Russia.  The  rich  never  will- 
inirlv  went  to  sleep  without  being  lulled  bv  tales  told  bv  some 
popular  story-ieller.  Ivan  the  Terrible  always  had  three,  who 
succeeded  each  other  at  his  bedside.  Soon,  under  Alexis 
Mikhailovitch,  theatrical  representations  in  imitation  of  Europe 
were  to  begin. 

All  Western  superstitions  were  current  in  Russia,  which  also 
added  follies  of  her  own.  The  people  believed  in  horoscopes, 
diviners,  sorcery,  magic,  the  miraculous  virtues  of  certain  herbs 
or  certain  formulae,  the  evils  produced  by  "  lifting  the  foot- 
marks" of  an  enemy,  in  bewitched  swords,  in  love  philtres,  in 
were-wolves,  ghosts  and  vampires,  which  play  such  a  terrible  part 
in  the  popular  tales  of  Russia.  Their  terror  of  sorcerers  is 
shown  by  the  horrible  deaths  they  made  them  die.  The  most 
enlightened  Tzars  shared  this  weakness,  and  Boris  Godounof 
made  all  his  servants  swear  "  never  to  have  recourse  to  magi- 
cians, male  or  female,  or  to  any  other  means  of  hurting  the 
Tzar,  the  Tzarina,  or  their  children  ;  never  to  cast  spells  by  the 
traces  of  their  feet  or  of  their  carriages."  Thev  had  more  con- 
fidence  in  the  receipts  of  a  wise  woman,  in  holy  water  in  which 
the  relics  had  been  dipped,  than  in  doctors,  whom  they  only  re- 
garded as  another  variety  of  sorcerers.  Nothing  was  more 
difficult  and  dangerous  than  the  early  exercise  of  this  profession. 
If  the  doctor  did  not  succeed  in  curing  his  patient,  he  was  pun- 
ished as  a  malicious  magician.  One  of  these  unfortunate  peo- 
ple, a  Jew,  was  executed  under  Ivan  III.  in  a  public  place  for 
having  allowed  a  Tzardvitch  to  die.     Anthony,  another,  a  Gar 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


2*3 


man  by  nation,  was  accused  of  having  put  a  Tatar  prince  to 
death,  and  delivered  to  his  relatives  to  suffer  by  the  kx  talionis. 
He  was  stabbed.  Towards  the  end  of  the  i6th  century  the 
situation  of  doctors  was  somewhat  ameliorated  ;  but  when  a 
Tzarina  or  a  great  lady  had  to  be  attended,  whose  face  they  were 
never  allowed  to  see,  and  whose  pulse  they  might  only  touch 
through  a  muslin  covering,  what  proper  means  had  they  of  tak- 
mz  ^  diagnosis  ? 

Such  was  ancient  Russia, — that  European  China  discovered 
and  described  by  the  European  travellers  of  the  i6ih  and  lyih 
centuries,  by  Herberstein,  Mayerberg,  Cobenzel,  envoys  of  Aus- 
tria ;  Chancellor,  Jenkinson,  and  Fletcher,  envoys  of  England  ; 
the  Venetians  Contaiini  and  Marco  Foscarini  ;  the  Roman 
merchant  Barberini ;  Ulfeld  the  Dane  ;  Petrei  the  Swede  ;  the 
Germans  Heidenstein,  Eric  Lassota,  Olearius;  Possevino  the 
Jesuit ;  the  French  captain  Jacques  Margeret ;  the  English  doc- 
tor Collins,  &c.  It  now  remains  to  speak  of  literature  and  the 
arts. 


THE    RENAISSANCE  :    LITERATURE,    POPULAR    SONGS,     AND    CATHE- 
DRALS— MOSCOW    IN     THE    l6th  CENTURY. 

Ecclesiastical  literature  was  chiefly  composed  of  a  collection 
of  ideas  borrowed  from  the  Fathers  of  '  Readings  for  Every 
Day  in  the  Year,'  called  '  Waves  of  Gold,'  '  Months  of  Gold,' 
'  Emeralds,'  &c. ;  or  of  collections  of  Lives  of  the  Saints  of  the 
Greek  or  Russian  Churches.  The  most  considerable  monument 
belonging  to  this  last  group  is  the  '  Tchetiminei,'  a  vast  compil- 
ation of  the  Metropolitan  Macarius,  one  of  the  directors  of  the 
conscience  of  Ivan  the  Terrible.  The  chronicles  are  still  pro- 
duced, among  others  the  '  Stepennyia  knigi,'  a  history  of  the 
Russian  princes  after  Vladimir.  Besides  the  great  legal  collec- 
tion of  the  '  Code  '  and  of  the  '  Stoglaf,'  we  must  mention  the 
'Domostroi'  of  the  Pope  Silvester,  Minister  of  Ivan  IV.  This  is 
a  collection  of  precepts  instructing  readers  in  the  arts  of  keep- 
ing house  and  securing  salvation.  It  enumerates  the  days  on 
which  swans,  cranes,  capons,  egg-pasties,  and  cheese  are  to  be 
eaten.  It  gives  receipts  for  making  hydromel,  kvass,  beer  gruel, 
and  sweetmeats.  It  gives  bills  of  fare,  and  at  the  same  time 
teaches  the  master  of  the  house  how  he  ought  to  govern  his 
wife,  his  children,  and  his  servants  ;  avoid  the  sin  of  wicked  con- 
versation ;  please  God,  honor  the  Tzar,  the  princes,  and  all  per- 
sons of  rank  ;  how  he  should  conduct  himself  well  at  table,  "to 
blow  his  nose,  and  to  spit  without  noise,  taking  care  to  turn 


224  HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSTA. 

away  from  the  company,  and  put  his  foot  over  the  place."  The 
'  Domostro'  gives  the  characteristics  of  the  Russian  civilization, 
as  the  Be  Re  Riistua  of  the  elder  Cato  gives  those  of  the  an- 
cient Roman  civilization.  From  Cato  to  Silvester  there  is  an 
evident  progress.  Whilst  the  Roman  advises  that  the  old  oxen, 
the  old  iron,  and  the  old  slaves  should  be  sold,  the  Pope  Silves- 
ter enjoins  that  "  the  old  servants  who  are  no  longer  good  for 
anything,  be  fed  and  clothed,  in  consideration  of  their  former 
services  :  this  ministers  to  the  salvation  of  the  soul,  and  we  must 
fear  the  anger  of  God."  "Masters,"  he  says  again,  "ought  to 
be  benevolent  towards  their  servants,  and  give  them  to  eat  and 
drink,  and  warm  them  properly  ;  for,  if  they  keep  their  dvororit 
by  force  around  them,  and  do  not  nourish  them  sufficiently, 
they  turn  them  into  bad  servants,  who  lie,  steal,  are  dissipated, 
spoU  everything,  and  get  drunk  at  the  tavern.  These  foolish 
masters  sin  against  God,  are  despised  by  their  slaves,  and  con- 
temned by  their  neighbors." 

"When  a  man  sends  his  servant  to  honest  people,  he  should 
knock  softly  at  the  great  door ;  when  the  slave  comes  to  ask 
him  what  he  wants,  he  should  reply,  '  I  have  nothing  to  do  with 
thee,  but  with  him  to  whom  I  am  sent.'  He  should  only  say 
from  whom  he  comes,  so  that  the  other  may  tell  his  master.  On 
the  threshold  of  the  chamber  he  will  wipe  his  feet  in  the  straw; 
before  entering  he  will  blow  his  nose,  spit,  and  say  a  prayer.  If 
no  one  says  amen  to  him,  he  will  say  a  second  prayer;  if  they 
still  keep  silence,  a  third  prayer,  in  a  louder  voice  than  the  pre- 
ceding ones.  If  they  still  do  not  speak,  he  will  knock  at  the 
door.  On  entering,  he  must  bow  before  the  holy  images ;  then 
he  will  explain  his  mission  to  the  master,  and  during  this  time 
he  must  take  care  not  to  touch  his  nose,  nor  to  cough,  nor  spit; 
he  must  conduct  himself  with  propriety,  without  looking  to  the 
right  orthe  left.  If  he  is  left  alone,  he  must  examine  nothing 
belonging  to  the  master  of  the  house  and  touch  nothing 
neither  to  eat  nor  drink.  If  he  is  sent  to  carry  anything,  he 
must  not  look  to  see  what  it  is;  and  if  it  should  be  eatable, 
neither  his  tongue  nor  his  lingers  are  to  know  it." 

At  the  head  of  the  literary  movement  of  the  time,  Ivan  the 
Terrible  and  his  enemy  Kourbski  occupy  a  place  of  honor. 
They  exchanged  many  letters,  in  which  the  one  displayed  a  great 
knowledge  of  sacred  and  profane  literature,  close  reasoning,  and 
bitter  irony ;  the  other  an  indignant  and  tragic  eloquence. 
Besides  these  letters,  Ivan  addressed  an  admonition  to  the  monks 
of  St.  Cyril,  full  of  vigor  and  mocking  gravity.  The  same 
Kourbski'has  written,  in  eight  books,  a  passionate  history  of  the 
Tzar  who  persecuted  **  the  strong  ones  of  Israel,  the  high-bora 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


225 


heroes  of  Russia  " ;  in  his  exile  in  Lithuania  he  defended 
orthodoxy  against  the  encroachments  of  Jesuitism  and  Protes- 
tantism, compiled  the  '  History  of  the  Council  of  Florence,'  and 
learnt  Latin  in  order  to  translate  into  Russian  the  Fathers  of  the 
Church. 

Like  his  rival  Louis  XI.  in  France,  Ivan  the  Terrible  was  in 
Russia  the  protector  of  printing,  abhorred  by  the  people  as  an 
impious  art.  Mstislavets  and  the  deacon  Feodorof  printed  the 
Acts  of  the  Apostles,  and  a  '  Book  of  I  lours  ;  '  but  later  they  were 
obliged  to  fly  into  Lithuania  to  escape  from  accusations  of 
heresy  and  the  hate  of  the  people. 

There  existed  a  literature  which  could  do  without  the  art  of 
Gutenberg,  and  which  at  this  time  attained  its  most  splendid 
development.  This  was  the  literature  which  from  the  earliest 
centuries  of  Russian  history  had  been  kept  alive  on  the  lips  of 
the  people,  in  the  memory  of  the  peasants,  and  which,  perpet- 
uated by  oral  tradition,  has  at  last  been  collected  in  our  own 
day  by  Rybnikof,  Afanasiet,  Schein,  Sakharof  Kirie'e\ski, 
Bezsonof,  Hilferding,  Kostomarof,  Koulich,  Tchoubinski,  and 
Dragomanof.  The  people  had  their  lyric  poetry,  marriage-songs, 
funeral  dirges,  rural  dance-songs,  hymns  for  Christmas  (XvV/r?;^//-/), 
Kpi|)hany,  Easter,  and  the  Feasts  of  St.  George  and  St.  John, — 
hymns  in  which  they  celebrated  the  death  of  winter,  the  birth  ot 
spring,  the  harvest,  and  preserved  the  recollections  of  the  ancient 
religions  and  ancient  Slav  gods.  There  were  epic  songs  which 
glorified  the  legendary  exploits  of  the  early  heroes  of  Russia,  the 
demi-gods  of  primitive  paganism  :  Volga  Vseslavitch,  Sviatogor, 
.Mikoula  Selianinovitch,  Polkane,  Douna'i,  &c.  In  these  songs 
Vladimir,  the  "Beautiful  Sun"  of  Kief,  groups  around  him,  like 
the  Charlemagne  of  the  chansons  de gesfcs  and  the  King  Anluir 
of  the  Breton  romances,  a  whole  pleiad  of  bogatyrs.  Thev  ha\e 
innnortalized  Ilia  of  Mourom,  the  hero-peasant  ;  D(  br_\na 
Nikititch,  the  hero-boyard  ;  Alecha  Popovitch,  conqueror  of  the 
gigantic  dragon,  Tougarine  ;  Solovei  Boudimirovitch,  navigator 
of  the  falcon-ship  Potyk,  whom  the  perfidy  of  an  enchantress 
caused  to  descend  alive  into  the  tomb  ;  Diouk  Ste'panovitch,  who 
crossed  the  Dnieper  at  one  leap  of  his  horse  ;  Stavre  Godino- 
vitch,  the  warrior-musician,  released  by  a  ruse  of  his  wife  from 
the  prisons  of  Vladimir;  Thomas  Ivanovitch,  w'hom  the  Princess 
Apraxie  calumniated  like  another  Joseph,  but  for  whom  God 
worked  a  miracle  ;  Vassili,  the  hero-drunkard,  who  went  from  a 
tavern  to  save  Russia  ;  Sadko,  the  rich  merchant  of  Novgorod, 
whose  maritime  adventures  form  an  Odyssey ;  the  Princess 
Apraxie,  who  is  seated  on  the  throne  by  the  side  of  Vladimir  her 
husband ;  the  heroines  Nastasia  and  Marina,  the  I'enelcpe  and 


226  HIS  TOR  V  OF  A'  USS/A. 

Circe  of   the    Russian    epopee ;  Maria   the    White  Swan,    who 
belongs  to  the  cycle  of  bird-women  ;  and  Vassilissa,  who  passed 
herself  off  as  a  bogatyr,  and   beat   all   the   athletes  of  Vladimir 
Such  were  the  heroes  of  Kief  and  Novgorod. 

Historical  heroes  belong  to  the  cycle  of  Moscow  :  Dmitri, 
the  vanquisher  of  the  Tatars  ;  Michael  of  Tchernigof,  Alexandei 
Nevski,  and  Ivan  the  Terrible,  around  whom  are  grouped  the 
songs  of  the  taking  of  Kazan,  ihe  conquest  of  Siberia,  and  the 
famous  by-lines  entitled  '  The  Tzar  wishes  to  kill  his  Son,'  '  The 
Tzar  sends  the  Tzarina  to  a  Convent,'  and  '  How  Treason  was 
introduced  into  Russia.'  This  epic  current  flows  on  up  to  the 
19th  century ;  and  others,  born  of  the  shock  of  events  on  the 
popular  imagination,  celebrate  the  deeds  of  Skopine  Chouiski, 
the  wars  of  Peter  the  Great,  the  victories  of  Elizabeth  and 
Catherine  H.,  the  campaigns  of  Souvorof,  and  even  the  invasion 
of  Russia  by  the  "  King  Napoleon." 

Narratives,  sometimes  in  prose  and  sometimes  in  poetry, 
glorify  the  heroes  of  the  Eastern  epopee  :  Akir  of  Nineveh, 
Solomon  the  Wise,  Alexander  of  Macedon,  and  Rousslan 
Lazarevitch.  Wonderful  stories  are  told  by  the  peasants  of 
Helen  the  Fair,  of  the  Tzar  of  the  Sea,  and  of  Vassilissa  the 
Wise  ;  of  the  Seven  Simeons ;  of  the  adventures  of  Ivan,  Son  of 
the  King,  and  of  the  lovely  Nastasia  ;  of  the  Baba-Yaga,  and  of 
the  King  of  the  Serpents.  There  were  religious  verses,  which 
were  carried  by  the  blind  kalicki,  who  sang  the  praises  of  the 
Russian  saints  from  village  to  village — St.  George  the  Brave, 
and  St.  Dmitri  of  Solun,  vanquishers  of  dragons  and  infidels  ; 
Boris  and  Gleb,  sons  of  Vladimir  the  Baptist  ;  St.  Theodosius, 
founder  of  the  catacombs  of  Kief  ;  Daniel  the  Pilgrim,  who 
visited  Jerusalem  ;  and  others  who  belong  almost  as  much  to  the 
Slav  mythology  as  to  the  Christian  hagiography.  Lastly,  there 
are  satirical  tales,  light  and  biting  as  French  fables,  turning  into 
ridicule  the  greed  of  the  popes,  and  the  interested  calculations 
of  their  wives. 

Thanks  to  the  Greeks  who  fled  from  Constantinople,  and 
their  pupils  the  Italians,  Russia  had  a  sort  of  artistic  Renaissance 
from  the  15th  to  the  i7tli  century,  under  the  same  influences  as 
the  West.  The  revolution  was,  however,  less  complete  in  Mus- 
covy than  in  Russia ;  there  was  no  need  to  substitute  the  round 
for  the  pointed  arch,  since  Russia  had  no  Gothic  churches,  and 
the  Roman  Byzantine  style,  borrowed  in  the  nth  century  by  St. 
Sopliia  at  Novgorod  and  St.  Sophia  at  Kief  from  St.  So|ihia  at 
Constantinople,  was  perpetuated,  under  the  influence  of  religious 
ideas  and  unbroken  traditions,  as  a  legacy  from  Byzantium. 
There    was  no  sort  of  change   in  painting ;  and  even  in   the 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


227 


present  day,  ?n  the  Russian  convents,  the  hieratic  usage  causes 
the  saints  and  the  Mother  of  God  to  be  painted  as  they  might 
have  been  painted  by  Panselinos  in  the  loth  century  in  the 
churches  of  Mount  Alhos.  The  Renaissance  chiefly  manifests 
itself  bv  the  number  and  masfnificence  of  the  orthodox  churches 
with  which  Italian  artists  then  "illuminated"  Old  Russia,  and 
by  the  greater  perfection  of  their  modes  of  building.  It  was  then 
that  Moscow  became  worthy  by  her  new  monumental  splendors 
to  be  the  capital  of  a  great  empire  ;  it  was  then  that  she  became 
the  '•  Holy  City,"  with  forty  times  forty  churches,  with  innumer- 
able cupolas  of  gold,  of  silver,  and  of  blue,  which  the  Russian 
pilgrim,  kneeling  on  the  Hill  of  Prostrations,  salutes  from  afar 
off. 

Moscow  was  at  that  time  composed  :  i.  Of  the  KremI  or 
Kremlin,  a  fortified  enclosure  in  the  form  of  a  triangle,  of  which 
the  smallest  side  rests  on  the  Moskowa,  and  the  apex  is  turned 
towards  the  north.  2.  Of  the  Kita'i-gorod,  not,  as  so  many 
travellers  translate  it,  the  China  City,  but  perhaps  derived  from 
Kitai-gorod  in  Podolia,  the  birthplace  of  Helena,  mother  of  Ivan 
IV.,  foundress  of  the  Kitai-gorod  of  Moscow,  which  encloses 
the  bazaars  and  the  palaces  of  the  nobles,  and  is  separated  from 
the  Kremlin  by  a  vast  space  that  they  call  the  Red  Place  or 
Beautiful  Place.  3.  Of  the  Bie'lyi-gorod,  or  White  City,  which 
surrounds  this  double  centre  of  the  Kremlin  and  the  Kitai-gorod 
as  the  outer  skin  of  an  almond  encloses  the  two  cotyledons. 
4.  Of  the  Zcmlianji-gorod,  or  City  of  the  Earthen  Ramparts, 
enveloping  in  its  turn  the  White  City,  enclosing  the  faubourgs, 
gardens,  woods,  lakes,  and  vast  unbuilt-on  spaces,  then  ocDupied 
by  the  slolwdcs  of  the  streltsi.  5.  On  the  outer  circle  of  Moscow, 
like  detached  forts,  stood  the  fortified  convents  with  white  walls, 
which  more  than  once  sustained  the  assault  of  the  Poles  and  the 
Tatars.  This  huge  Asiatic  town  was  a  city  of  contrasts.  The 
buildings  grouped  themselves  almost  by  accident  along  the 
wide,  marshy,  tortuous,  hardly  marked-out  streets.  Isbas  of 
pine,  like  those  of  the  Russian  villages,  stood  by  ihe  side  of  the 
palaces  of  the  nobles.  The  people  either  chose  them  ready 
made  from  the  yards,  or  ordered  them  according  to  their  meas- 
ure. The  carpenters  built  them  in  two  days  on  the  place  pointed 
out :  they  only  cost  a  few  roubles. 

Moscow  is  situated  in  that  part  of  Russia  which  is  totally 
lacking  in  stone,  and  where  the  forests  were  formerly  thickest. 
In  point  of  fact,  it  is  a  city  of  wood,  which  a  spark  might  set  on 
fire.  It  had  been  burned  almost  entirelv  under  Dmitri  Donskoi, 
and  twice  under  Ivan  the  Terrible;  it  was  to  burn  again  during 
the  Polish  invasion  of  1612,  and  the  French  invasion  of  1812. 


228  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

The  oukazes  of  the  Tzars  ordered  certain  precautions  undei 
the  most  severe  penalties  :  all  the  fires  had  to  be  put  out  at 
ni2;htfall:  in  summer  it  was  absolutely  forbidden  to  have  licfhts 
in  the  houses,  and  cooking  had  to  be  done  in  the  open  air 
There  were  no  means  of  extinguishing  the  fires,  and,  when  one 
broke  out,  the  Muscovites  showed  themselves  as  passively  fatal- 
istic as  the  people  of  the  East. 

It  was  chiefly  the  Kremlin  that  profited  by  the  embellish- 
ments undertaken  by  the  two  Ivans  and  their  successors.  The 
enclosure — of  wood  before  the  burning  of  Tokhtamvch — was 
now  of  solid  white  stones,  cut  in  facets  (thence  was  derived  the 
poetical  name  of  "  Holy  mother  Moscow  with  the  white  walls  ")  ; 
it  was  surmounted  bv  high  and  narrow  battlements  in  the  form 
of  teeth.  Eighteen  cowers  protected  it,  and  five  gates  led  into 
the  interior.  These  five  gates  present  nuicii  originality  and 
variety.  That  of  the  Saviour  was  built  in  1491  by  Pietro  So- 
lario  of  Milan.  It  is  the  sacred  gate,  that  cannot  be  entered 
covered  ;  formerly  obstinate  people  were  forced  to  kneel  down 
before  it  fifty  times.  Criminals  were  allowed  to  make  their  last 
prayer  before  the  image  of  the  Saviour,  and  the  new  Emperor 
alwavs  made  his  entrance  through  it  on  his  wav  to  his  corona- 
tion  at  the  Assumption.  Another  Italian  built  at  the  same  date 
the  gale  of  St.  Nicholas  of  Mojaisk,  avenger  of  perjury,  before 
whose  image  the  suitors  made  oath.  That  of  the  Trinitv  was 
built  in  the  17th  century  by  Christopher  Galloway. 

The  wall  of  the  Kremlin,  like  that  of  the  old  imperial  palace 
of  Byzantium,  encloses  a  quantity  of  churches,  palaces,  and 
monasteries.  The  most  celebrated  of  these  churches  is  the 
Oiispiejiski  Sohor,  or  the  Cathedral  of  the  Assumption,  in  which 
since  the  15th  century  the  Tzars  have  alwavs  made  a  point  of 
being  crowned  It  is  their  Cathedral  of  Rheims.  Its  architect 
was  Aristotele  Fioraventi,  who  had  already  worked  for  Cosmo 
de  Medici,  Francis  I.,  Gian  Galeazzo  of  Milan,  Matthias  Cor- 
vinus,  and  the  Pope  Sixtus  IV.,  and  whom  Tolbousine,  am- 
bassador of  Ivan  III.,  met  at  Venice,  and  engaged  for  the  ser- 
vice of  the  Tzar.  One  can  hardly  believe  that  the  Assumption 
is  of  the  same  date  as  the  luminous  churches  of  the  Renaissance. 
The  architect,  or  those  who  inspired  him,  has  here  tried  to  re- 
produce the  mysterious  obscurity  of  the  old  temples  of  Egypt 
and  the  East.  The  cathedral  has  no  windows,  but  only  close- 
barred  shot-holes  in  the  walls,  which  admit  into  the  interior  a 
doubtful  light,  like  that  which  filters  through  the  hole  of  a  dun- 
geon. This  pale  glow  touches  the  massive  pillars  covered  with 
a  tawny  gold  ;  on  tlie  tarnislied  background  stand  out,  severe 
and  grave,  the  faces  of  the  saints  and  doctors  ;  it  dwells  here 


''Cim£ifinliiati:;BiM^^^^  ' 


HISTOK  Y  OF  RUSSIA.  229 

and  there  on  the  relief  oi  the  golden  ieonostase^  covered  by  mirac- 
ulous images,  sprinkled  with  diamonds  and  jewels ;  it  hardly 
lights  the  representations  of  the  '  Last  Judgment '  and  the  '  End 
of  the  World,'  painted  on  the  walls  of  the  church.  All  the  upper 
part  of  the  temple  is  partly  enveloped  in  shadows,  like  the  crypts 
of  the  Pharaohs  ;  the  pictmes  which  co\cr  the  vault  can  hardly 
he  distinguished.  The  artist  has  evidently  made  them  for  the 
eye  of  God,  not  for  that  of  man  ;  for  the  eye  of  man  can  only 
contemplate  them  on  the  rare  occasions,  such  as  the  Feast  of 
the  Assumption  or  a  coronation-day,  when  the  whole  cathedral 
is  illumined  to  its  furthest  corners  by  innumerable  wax  tapers. 
It  seems  that  Aristotele  built  this  church  according  to  a  former 
plan  of  some  other  architect,  only  it  is  said  that,  finding  the 
constructions  already  begun  not  sufificiently  solid,  he  with  a  bat- 
tering-ram, perfected  by  himself,  overthrew  the  walls ;  that  he 
caused  new  foundations  to  be  dug  ;  finally,  that  he  taught  the 
Russians  a  better  way  of  baking  bricks.  At  the  Assumption  is 
the  tomb  of  St.  Peter,  the  first  Metropolitan  of  Moscow,  and 
people  come  here  to  worship  before  the  holy  images  of  Vladi- 
mir and  laroslavl.  The  Cathedral  of  St.  Michael  the  Archangel, 
built  in  1505,  is  ihe  St.  Denys  of  the  Tzars  of  Russia  :  here,  in  a 
coffin  of  pine  covered  with  red  cloth,  sleep  Ivan  the  Terrible 
and  his  two  sons.  In  the  Church  of  the  Annunciation  with  the 
agate  pavement,  the  marriages  of  the  princes  are  celebrated. 
In  that  of  the  Ascension  are  the  tombs  of  the  sovereigns.  The 
Tower  of  Ivan  the  Great,  325  feet  high,  surmounted  with  a 
golden  cupola,  with  Slavonic  inscriptions  in  letters  of  gold  which 
may  be  distinguished  from  afar,  with  thirty-four  bells  in  the 
carillon,  was  built  in  1600  by  Boris  Godounof. 

Of  the  imperial  palace  built  in  1487,  only  a  few  fragments 
still  remain  :  the  little  "  Golden  Palace,"  where  the  Tzarinas  re- 
ceived the  members  of  the  clergy  ;  the  "  Palace  of  Facets," 
where  the  solemn  audiences  of  ambassadors  were  held  ;  the 
"  Red  Staircase,"  from  the  top  of  which  the  Tzar  allowed  the 
people  to  contemplate  "The  light  of  his  eyes;"  finally  the 
"Terem,"  with  the  painted  roof,  where  we  still  find  the  dining- 
hall,  the  hall  of  council,  and  that  of  the  oratory — vaulted  halls 
still  complete,  where  shine  on  golden  backgrounds  the  images 
of  the  saints  who  protect  the  Tzar.  The  Palace  of  Facets  was 
begun  in  1487  by  the  Italian  Mario,  and  finished  by  Pietro  An- 
tonio. The  other  palaces  are  the  work  of  the  Milanese  Aleviso. 
In  the  Tzarian  apartments,  rarities  imported  from  the  West  al- 
ready mixed  with  the  ancient  Russian  furniture.  In  1594  the 
German  ambassador  presented  the  Tzar  Feodor  with  a  gilt 
clock,  on  which  were  marked  the  planets  and  the  calendar  ;  and 


230  HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA. 

in  1597  with  another  clock,  where  little  figures  played  on  trum- 
pets, Jews'  harps,  and  tambourines  each  time  the  hour  struck. 

The  most  curious  edifice  in  Moscow  is  perhaps  the  Church 
of  Vassili  the  Blessed,  on  the  Red  Place.  It  was  built  by  Iv;in 
the  Terrible  in  1554,  in  memory  of  the  taking  of  Kazan,  and  is 
the  work  of  an  Italian  artist.  The  legend  insists  that  Ivan  put 
out  the  eyes  of  the  artist,  to  prevent  his  building  a  similar  mar- 
vel for  others.  We  must  imagine  a  church  surmounied  by  six 
or  eight  round  cupolas,  all  of  different  heights  and  forms,  "  some 
beaten  into  facets,  others  cut;  these  carved  into  diamond  points, 
like  the  ananas,  those  in  spirals  ;  others,  again,  marked  with 
scales,  lozenge-shaped,  or  celled  like  a  honeycomb."*  A  power- 
ful imagination  has  defied  all  svmmetrv.  From  the  base  to  the 
summit  the  church  is  covered  with  colors,  which  are  glaring,  and 
even  crude.  This  many-colored  monster  has  the  gift  of  stupefy- 
ing the  most  blase  traveller.  "You  might  take  it,"  says  Hax- 
thausen,  "  for  an  immense  dragon,  with  shining  scales,  crouch- 
ing and  sleeping."  Conceive  the  most  brilliant  bird  of  tropical 
forests  suddenly  taking  the  shape  of  a  cathedral,  and  you  have 
Vassili-Blagamoi. 

It  was  not  only  architects  that  Russia  owed  to  Italy.  Aris- 
totele  Fioraventi  coined  money  for  Ivan  III.,  built  him  a  bridge 
of  boats  over  the  Volkhof  during  the  expedition  to  Novgorod, 
cast  the  cannons  which  thundered  against  Kazan,  and  organized 
his  artillery.  Paolo  Bossio  of  Genoa  cast  for  him  the  Tzar- 
pouchka,  the  king  of  guns,  the  giant  piece  of  the  Kremlin.  Pietro 
of  Milan  made  him  arquebuses.  The  art  of  the  founder  shed 
its  greatest  brilliancy  under  Boris  Godounof,  whose  effigy  adorns 
the  queen  of  bells  (Tzar-kolokol),  subsequently  re-cast  under 
Alexis  and  Anne  Ivanovna,  the  bronze  Titan  whose  weight  of 
288,000  pounds  could  be  contained  in  no  belfry,  which  broke 
every  scaffolding,  and  rests  voiceless  like  a  pyramid  of  bronze 
on  its  pedestal  of  masonry,  constructed  in  the  beginning  of 
this  century  by  Montferrand. 

*  Theophile  Gautier, '  Voyage  en  Russj'e.' 


a  IS  TOR  Y  OF  R  US  SI  A.  23 1 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE     SUCCESSORS   OF    IVAN   THE   TEUKIIiLE  :     FEODOR    IVANOVITCH 
AND    BORIS   GODOUNOF  (1584-1605). 

Feoclor  Ivanovitch  (1584-1598) — The  peasant  attached  to  the  glebe — The 
patriarchate — Boris  Godounof  (159S-1605) — Appearance  of  the  false 
Dmitri. 


FEODOR   IVANOVITCH  (1584-1598) — THE     PEASANT  ATTACHED    TO 
THE  GLEBE — THE   PATRIARCHATE. 

Feodor,  son  of  Ivan  IV.  and  of  Anastasla  Romanof,  resem- 
bled his  father  in  nothing.  He  had  neither  his  instinctive  love 
of  cruelty  and  debauchery,  nor  his  lively  intelligence,  nor  his 
iron  will.  The  throne  of  the  Terrible  was  occupied  by  a  saint — 
a  monk.  The  power  passed  naturally  to  the  chamber  of  the 
boyards.  Five  among  them  had  special  influence  over  the 
government — Prince  Ivan  Mstislavski,  a  descendant  of  Gedemin  ; 
Prince  Ivan  Chouiski,  a  descendant  of  Rurik,  a  member  of  a 
family  disgraced  in  the  early  years  of  Ivan  IV.,  but  himself  cele- 
brated as  the  defender  of  Pskof  ;  and  Prince  Bogdan  Belski, 
another  descendant  of  Rurik.  After  these  three  heads  of 
princely  families  came  two  chiefs  of  boyard  families.  Both  be- 
came sovereigns,  and  both  owed  their  elevation  to  their  wives. 
The  importance  of  Nikita  Romanof  came  from  his  sister,  the 
first  wife  of  Ivan  IV. ;  Boris  Godounof  owed  his  to  his  sister 
Irene,  wife  of  the  Tzar  Feodor.  Minister  of  Ivan  IV.,  brother 
of  the  reigning  Tzar,  Godounof  was  devoured  by  an  insatiable 
ambition.  Sorcerers  who  had  escaped  from  Ivan  the  Terrible 
are  said  to  have  prophesied  that  he  should  become  Tzar,  but 
that  his  reign  was  only  to  last  for  seven-years.  From  that  time 
his  policy  consisted  in  pulling  aside  all  rivals — in  overcoming 
all  the  obstacles  that  lay  between  him  and  the  throne. 

The  Tzar  Feodor  had  a  brother,  Dmitri,  sou  of  Ivan's 
seventh  wife.  The  doiiina  of  boyards  feared  the  intrigues  of 
which  this  infant  might  be  made  the  centre,  and,  by  the  advice 
of  Godounof,   sent   him  to  his  appanage   OugUtch,  with  bis 


232 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


mother  and  her  relations,  the  Nagois.  Belski,  another  de« 
scendant  of  Gedemin,  an  intelligent  and  ambitious  man,  irri- 
tated the  people,  who  besieged  the  Kremlin,  and  demanded  his 
head.  Boris  took  advantage  of  such  a  good  opportunity,  and 
despatched  this  rival  to  Nijni-Novgorod.  When  Feodor  at  iiis 
coronation  had  placed  on  his  head  the  crowns  of  Russia,  Kazan 
Astrakhan,  and  Siberia,  it  was  his  maternal  uncle,  Nikita  Ro- 
manof,  who  governed  in  his  name  ;  but  at  his  death  the  power 
passed  to  the  natural  chief  of  a  new  vrc'mia,  Boris  Godounof. 
There  still  remained  in  the  council  two  rivals  to  Boris.  Mstis* 
lavski  allowed  himself  to  be  implicated  in  a  plot,  and  was  forced 
to  become  a  monk;  Prince  Chouiski,  \\ho  had  tried  to  make 
himself  a  party  among  the  merchants,  was  accused  of  treason, 
arrested  with  all  his  family,  and  all  were  banished  to  different 
distant  towns.  The  Metropolitan  Dionysius,  who  had  taken  his 
part,  was  deposed,  and  replaced  by  Job,  a  man  completely  at 
the  disposal  of  Godounof,  who  was  now  supreme.  He  induced 
his  brother-in-law  to  grant  him  the  title  of  Allied  Chief  Boyard, 
the  viceroyalties  of  Kazan  and  Astrakhan,  and  immense  terri- 
tories on  the  Dwina  and  the  Moskowa.  His  revenues  were 
enormous,  and  he  is  said  to  have  been  able  to  put  a  hundred 
thousand  men  in  the  field.  Nothing  could  be  obtained  from  the 
sovereign  except  through  Boris  ;  more  powerful  than  even  Ada- 
chef  had  been,  he  had  an  army  of  clients.  It  was  he  who  replied 
to  the  ambassadors,  and  who  received  the  presents  of  the  Empe- 
ror, of  the  Queen  of  England,  and  of  the  Khan  of  the  Crimea. 
His  enemies  were  the  enemies  of  the  prince.  He  lacked  noth- 
ing that  is  royal  but  the  title. 

In  foreign  affairs,  the  regency  of  Godounof  strengthened  the 
prestige  of  Russia.  Batory,  who  had  never  ceased  to  threaten 
revenge,  died  in  1586.  A  new  danger  appeared  in  this  quarter. 
Sigismond,  son  of  the  King  of  Sweden,  had  schemed  successfully 
for  the  suffrages  of  the  Polish  electors.  It  was  to  be  feared  that 
he  would  one  day  unite  under  the  same  sceptre  the  two  nations 
whom  Russia  had  most  cause  to  dread  in  Europe.  Rodolph  of 
Austria,  the  other  candidate,  was  less  dangerous.  Austria  and 
Russia  had  the  same  interests  with  regard  to  Turks  and  Tatars, 
and  this  identity  was  one  day  to  result  in  the  almost  perpetual 
alliance  between  the  t\TO  Powers.  Boris  put  forward  Feodor  as 
a  candidate  for  the  crown  of  Poland,  and  the  idea  of  the  union 
of  the  two  Slav  monarchies  under  one  prince.  The  Poles 
refused  to  obey  any  prince  who  was  not  a  Catholic;  they  feared 
that,  instead  of  a  fraternal  union,  the  Muscovite  would  only 
"join  their  monarcliy  to  that  of  Moscow,  like  a  sleeve  to  a 
coat."    The  interests  of  caste  were  added  to  national  and  lelig- 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA.  233 

ious  prejudices  ;  the  noblei,  who  only  liad  in  view  the  weakening 
of  the  loyal  power,  were  not  likely  to  give  themselves  as  master 
a  sovereign  as  absolute  as  the  Tzar  of  Muscovy,  Finally,  nothing 
could  be  done  without  money  in  the  Polish  diets  ;  Boris  was  so 
mistaken  as  to  spare  it.  The  negotiations  fell  to  the  ground, 
and  the  prince  of  Sweden  was  elected. 

The  war  with  Sweden  began  again  vigorously  ;  .Russia 
recaptured  what  had  been  taken  from  Ivan  the  Terrible — lam, 
Ivangorod,  and  Koporie.  The  Poles,  who,  since  they  had  a 
Swedish  king,  did  not  care  to  augment  the  Swedish  power,  gave 
no  assistance.  Sigismond  Vasa,  on  his  father's  death  in  1592, 
did  indeed  see  himself  for  a  moment  king  of  both  countries  ;  but 
his  zeal  for  Catholicism,  which  made  him  dear  to  the  Poles, 
caused  him  to  be  detested  by  the  Swedes.  The  latter  wished 
for  a  separate  government,  under  the  regency  of  Charles  Vasa, 
and  they  soon  after  offered  him  the  crown.  This  union,  so 
much  dreaded  by  the  Russians,  soon  ended  m  a  rupture.  TLe 
Poles  and  Swedes  had  never  before  been  such  bitter  enemies, 
and  the  hatred  of  the  two  peoples  and  the  two  religions  was 
complicated  still  further  by  that  of  the  two  kings.  The  occasion 
was  favorable  for  Russia  to  undertake  the  conquest  of  Livonia. 
Boris  Godounof  had  never  abandoned  this  crrcat  scheme  of  Ivan 
the  Terrible,  only  he  failed  to  take  the  proper  means  for  realizing 
it.  Instead  of  openly  allying  himself  with  Sweden  against 
Poland,  or  with  Poland  against  Sweden,  he  negotiated  with  both, 
tried  to  play  off  one  against  the  other,  and  ended  by  alienating 
both  equally.  The  former  minister  of  Ivan  the  Terrible,  the 
intriguing  Grand  Boyard,  was  too  fond  of  hidden  paths. 

To  clear  his  way  to  the  throne,  it  was  not  sufficient  for  him 
to  be  master  of  the  palace  and  the  Court ;  he  must  create  him- 
self a  strong  party  in  the  nation.  Boris,  who  felt  himself  to  be 
hated  by  the  princes  and  boyards,  sought  the  support  of  the 
small  noblesse  and  the  clergy.  Hence  resulted  two  of  the  most 
important  actions  of  the  reign  of  Feodor^ — the  binding  of  the 
peasant  to  the  soil,  and  the  institution  of  the  patriarchate. 

The  Russian  peasant  was  in  fact  delivered  over  to  the  will 
of  his  master.  In  law,  he  remained  a  free  man,  as  he  was 
allowed  to  pass  from  tlie  service  of  one  proprietor  to  that  of 
another.  This  right  brought  with  it  an  abuse.  The  large  pro- 
prietors, who,  being  the  richest,  could  also  be  the  most  generous, 
tried  to  attract  to  their  lands  the  peasants  of  the  smaller  land- 
owners, by  insuring  them  privileges  and  immunities.  We  must 
remember  that  at  this  epoch  the  population  was  very  scanty,  and 
land  had  of  itself  no  value.  It  was  precious  according  to  the 
number  of  laborers  who  could  be  induced  to  settle  on  it.     Thus 


234 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


the  lands  of  the  smaller  proprietors  ran  the  risk  of  being  depop 
ulated  for  the  benefit  of  the  great  lords  ;  if  they  lost  ll.eii 
laborers,  the  value  of  the  land  became  proportionately  depre- 
ciated. Now  the  class  of  small  landowners  was  at  this  period 
almost  the  only  military  class  of  Russia  ;  the  national  cavalry 
was  recruited  almost  entirely  from  it  alone.  If  the  source  of 
their  revenues  were  cut  off,  where  would  they  get  the  money  to 
equip  themselves,  to  answer  to  the  call  of  the  Tzar,  according 
to  the  text  of  the  ordinances,  "  mounted,  armed,  and  accom- 
l~anied  ''  ?  Their  interest  thus  became  confounded  with  that  of 
the  empire,  which  was  soon  to  become  unable  to  support  its 
armies.  Boris  Godounof  found  means  to  save  the  rights  of  the 
State,  and  gain  for  himself  the  gratitude  of  a  numerous  and 
powerful  class.  The  comfort  of  the  peasant  did  not  trouble 
any  one  at  this  epoch.  He  was  an  instrument  of  agriculture,  a 
force — nothing  more.  An  edict  of  Feodor  forbade  tlie  peasants 
henceforth  to  go  from  one  estate  to  another.  The  free  Russian 
krestiaiiine  was  now  attached  to  the  glebe,  like  the  Western  serf. 
In  the  name  of  the  interest  of  the  State  and  that  of  the  military 
nobles,  an  imuiemorial  right  was  extinguished.  We  must  not 
think  that  these  silent  masses  were  insensible.  The  day  of  the 
"  St.  George,"  when  the  ancient  laws  permitted  the  peasant  to 
pass  yearly  from  one  domain  to  another,  remained  for  centuries 
a  day  of  bitter  regret.  He  cursed  fur  long  the  authors  of  this 
oukase,  and  even  protested  when  he  had  the  opportunity;  but 
his  protestation  took  more  the  form  of  flight  than  of  revolt. 
The  development  of  Cossack  life  has  a  close  relation  to  the 
change  in  the  rural  regime ;  and  the  more  men  sought  to  bind 
the  peasant  to  the  soil,  the  more  his  spirit  revolted,  and  the 
more  the  camps  of  the  Don  and  the  Dniester  were  filled.  The 
Russian  peasant  never  allowed  the  prescription  of  this  new 
form  of  slavery  to  be  established;  in  one  way  or  another  he  has 
constantly  resisted  it.  Boris  Godounof  afterwards  partially 
repealed  this  oukase  :  while  still  forbidding  them  to  pass  from 
the  service  of  the  small  to  the  great  proprietor,  they  were 
allowed  to  change  the  mastership  of  one  small  landowner  for 
that  of  another.  The  feeling  of  the  time  was  not  in  favor  of 
libertv ;  the  more  Russia  tended  to  become  a  modern  State,  the 
more  her  expenses  increased,  and  the  more  the  Government  was 
conscious  of  the  need  of  assuring  the  levenues  by  fixing  to  the 
soil  the  population  which  was  subject  to  the  tax  and  corvc'c.  It 
was  the  crushed  peasant  who  bore  the  weight  of  the  reform, 
awaiting  the  day,  still  very  distant,  when  he  also  would  profit  by 
the  progress  accomplished. 

The  other  innovation  made  in   the   name  of  Feodor  was  the 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


235 


establisliment  of  the  patriaixliate.  The  Russian  ecclesiastics 
complained  with  reason  of  having  to  obey  patriarchs  who  were 
themselves  only  slaves  of  the  infidels.  Ancient  Rome  was  pol- 
luted by  the  Pope  ;  Constantinople,  the  second  Rome,  was  pro- 
faned by  the  Turk:  had  not  Moscow,  the  third  Rome,  a  right 
at  least  to  independence  ?  Boris  encouraged  these  murmurs  : 
it  was  his  interest  that  at  the  death  of  the  Tzar  there  should  be 
\  great  ecclesiastical  authority  standing  alone,  and  that  this 
great  authority  should  owe  all  to  him.  He  profited  by  the  ar- 
rival at  Moscow  of  Jeremiaii,  Patriarch  of  Constantinople,  to  iri- 
duce  him  to  found  the  Russian  patriarchate  and  consecrate 
Archbishop  Job,  who  was  a  tool  of  Boris.  The  latter  had  now 
a  powerful  friend. 

Boris  had  need  to  create  for  himself  a  strong  party.  Many 
eyes  began  to  turn  towards  Ivan's  second  son,  Dmitri.  His 
mother's  kindred,  the  Nagois,  from  their  exile  at  Ouglitch, 
watched  carefully  all  the  variations  in  the  health  of  the  Tzar, 
and  the  movements  of  Boris.  The  death  of  Feodor  would  give 
the  throne  to  Dmitri,  and  power  to  his  relatives — power  to  avenge 
themselves  for  all.  It  would  deliver  Boris  up  to  the  reprisals  of 
his  enemies.  He  knew  this  only  too  well.  In  1591,  it  was  sud- 
denly announced  that  the  young  Dmitri  had  been  slain.  The 
public  voice  denounced  Boris.  To  stifle  suspicion  he  ordered 
an  inquest,  and  his  emissaries  had  the  audacity  to  declare  that 
the  young  prince  cut  his  own  throat  in  a  fit  of  madness,  and 
that' the  Nagois  and  the  people  of  Ouglitch  had  put  to  death  in- 
nocent men  as  murderers.  The  result  of  the  inquiry  was  the 
extermination  of  the  Nagois  and  the  depopulation  of  Ouglitch. 
Seven  years  after,  the  pious  P'eodor  died,  and  in  the  person  of 
this  vague  and  virtuous  sovereign  the  race  of  bloody  and  vio- 
lent men  of  prey  who  had  created  Russia  was  extinguished. 
The  dynasty  of  Andrew  Bogolioubski  had  accomplished  its  mis- 
sion— it  had  founded  the  Russian  unity.  The  task  of  obtaining 
the  entrance  of  this  semi-Asiatic  State  into  the  bosom  of  civ- 
ilized Europe  was  reserved  for  another  dynasty. 


BORIS    GODOUNOF    (1598-1605) — APPEARANCE   OF   THE   FALSE 

DMITRI. 

Boris  Godounof  had  reached  the  aim  of  his  desires — but  at 
what  a  price  !  The  murder  of  Dmitri,  the  last  offshoot  of  St. 
Vladimir,  of  Monomachus,  of  George  and  the  Ivans,  was  no  or- 
dinary crime.  Russia  had  seen  many  horrors,  but  never  one 
like  this.     The    Tzar  might  have   put  the   Russian   princes  to 


236 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


death,  but  they  were  his  enemies,  they  were  often  guilty,  and 
then  he  was  the  Tzar.  Now  a  simple  boyard  sacrificed  to  his 
own  ambition  the  son  of  his  benefactor,  the  heir  of  his  master, 
the  last  descendant  of  the  founders  of  Russia.  It  was  one  of 
those  crimes  that  ever  deeply  agitate  the  people.  Boris  believed 
vainly  he  had  buried  all  in  the  earth  with  the  corpse  of  the 
Tzarevitch. 

After  the  death  of  Feodor,  his  widow  Irene  entered  the 
Dievitchi  Monastyr,  and  took  the  veil  there,  mourning  her  ster- 
ility, and  lamenting  that  "  by  her  the  sovereign  race  had  per- 
ished." The  nobles  and  the  people  took  the  oaths  to  her,  so 
that  there  should  be  no  interregnum.  A  woman  had  the  crown 
at  her  disposal,  and  that  woman  was  the  sister  of  Godounof. 
As  she  refused  to  govern,  the  doiima  had  to  discharge  affairs 
under  the  presidency  of  the  Patriarch  Job,  who  owed  every- 
thing to  Godounof.  It  was  impossible  that  the  throne  should 
escape  Godounof  ;  yet  it  seemed  strange  that  a  simple  boyard, 
a  creature  of  Ivan  IV.,  should  take  precedence  of  all  the  princes 
descended  in  direct  line  from  Rurik.  However,  the  Patriarch 
and  his  clergy,  the  boyards  and  citizens  of  Moscow,  appeared 
before  the  Dievitchi  Monastyr,  in  which  Godounof  was  shut  up 
with  his  sister.  Job  entreated  him  to  accept  the  crown.  Go- 
dounof refused,  apparently  from  an  excess  of  modesty — in  reality, 
because  he  wished  to  receive  it  from  the  hands  of  the  nation. 
The  States-general  were  then  assembled  ;  the  lesser  nobility 
and  the  clergy,  that  is,  the  friends  of  Boris,  formed  the  majority. 
After  the  despotism  of  Ivan,  it  was  a  strange  sight  to  see  this 
assembly  dispose  of  the  crown.  The  Russia  of  the  Terrible 
had,  like  Poland,  her  elective  diet,  but  the  lesson  of  obedience 
had  been  so  well  learnt,  that  there  was  no  fear  of  anarchy.  They 
were  told  that  Ivan  IV.  on  his  death-bed  had  confided  to  Boris 
his  family  and  his  empire,  and  that  Feodor  had  put  around  his 
neck  a  chain  of  gold.  Men  made  the  most  of  the  experience  of 
government  that  he  had  acquired  under  two  reigns;  they 
boasted  of  his  skilful  dealings  with  Sweden,  Poland,  and  the 
Crimea.  The  national  voice  decreed  to  him  the  crown,  and  the 
States  sent  him  a  deputation.  He  still  feigned  to  hold  back, 
and  cast  out  "  the  tempters  ";  but  his  sister  "  blessed  him  for 
the  throne,"  and  thus  consecrated  the  wish  of  the  people. 
Boris  reigned. 

His  reign  was  not  without  glory.  He  took  up  the  designs  of 
his  master,  Ivan  IV.,  on  Livonia;  and  as  the  Terrible  had  his 
puppet  king  Magnus,  Boris  sought  first  a  Swedish  prince  Gustaf, 
and  then  a  Danish  prince  John,  to  play  the  part  of  King  of 
Livonia.     John  was  to  marry  Xenia,  daughter  of  the  new   Tzar, 


HISTOR  Y  OF  RUSSIA.  237 

when  he  died  suddenly.  Denmark  declared  that  he  was  pois- 
oned ;  and  in  the  Russia  of  that  date  everything  is  conceivable. 
The  Khan  of  the  Crimea,  who  had  vainly  tried  to  make  two  in- 
cursions,  and  who  had  then  a  quarrel  with  the  Turks,  sought 
the  friendship  of  Boris.  Affairs  in  the  Caucasus  were  less 
happy.  Alexander,  prince  of  Kachetia,  who  had  acknowledged 
himself  vassal  of  Boris,  was  assassinated,  and  succeeded  bv  his 
son,  who  was  on  the  side  of  the  King  of  Persia  (Shah  Abbas) 
and  Islamism.  In  Daghestan  a  body  of  Russians  sent  to  occupy 
the  country  were  exterminated  by  the  Turks.  Russia  had  not 
yet  approached  near  enough  to  the  Black  Sea  to  be  able  to  take 
the  field  with  assurance  in  those  distant  regions.  In  Siberia, 
Koutchoum,  the  dethroned  khan,  was  vanquished  ;  the  battle 
was  decisive,  though  the  Russian  voievodes  only  had  400  men, 
and  Koutchoum  500 ;  but  none  the  less  did  it  decide  the  fate 
of  Asia. 

Boris  continued  to  be  sought  by  the  Powers  of  the  West,  be- 
ginning with  Austria.  In  1600  he  sent  Gregory  Mikouline  to 
Queen  Elizabeth.  "He  had  learnt,"  says  the  letter  of  the  Tzar, 
"that  the  Queen  had  furnished  help  to  the  Turks  against  the 
Kaiser  of  Germany,  We  are  astonished  at  it,  as  to  act  thus 
is  not  proper  for  Christian  sovereigns;  and  you,  our  well-be- 
loved sister,  you  ought  not  for  the  future  to  enter  into  relation- 
ships of  friendship  with  Bousourjuan  (Mussulman)  princes,  nor 
to  help  them  in  any  way,  whether  by  men  or  silver;  but  on  the 
contrary  should  desire  and  insist  that  all  the  great  Christian  po- 
tentates should  have  a  good  understanding,  union,  and  strong 
friendship,  and  make  one  against  the  Mussulmans,  till  the  hand 
of  the  Christians  rise,  and  that  of  the  Mussulmans  is  abased." 

Miuoi  in  t  \\ as  received  in  London  with  sfreat  honors.  In  the 
audience  given  him  by  the  Queen,  "she  arose  from  her  throne 
and  advanced  some  distance  "  to  listen  to  his  compliments  ; 
after  which  she  bowed  her  head  and  asked  for  news  of  the  health 
of  the  Tzar,  the  Tzarina,  Maria  Gregorievna,  and  of  the  Tzar 
evitch  Feodor  Borissovitch.  She  received  "  with  great  joy"  the 
credentials,  and,  being  seated,  listened  to  the  message  of  Mi- 
kouline. She  replied  to  the  passage  touching  on  her  relations 
with  Turkey  by  protestations  of  friendship  and  union  with  all 
the  Christian  princes,  gave  her  hand  to  be  kissed  by  the  envoy 
and  also  by  the  secretary  of  the  embassy,  Ivan  Zinovief,  and 
sent  them  to  talk  over  their  affairs  with  Lord  Robert  Cecil.  The 
commercial  interests  of  the  two  peoples  were  guaranteed  anew. 
During  his  visit  to  London,  Mikouline  was  present  at  the  revolt 
of  1601,  led  by  E«sex,  and  saw  the  citizens  rush  through  the 
streets  with  armed  cuirasses  and  arquebuses  to  defend  the  Queen. 


238  HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA. 

He  gives  in  his  account  many  curious  details  of  the  Court  of 
England  at  this  epoch — the  most  brilliant  of  the  reign  of  Eliza- 
beth,— quitted  London  in  May  1601,  and  arrived  at  Arkhangel 
in  July. 

The  firm  government  of  Boris  gave  confidence,  and  he  con- 
tinued to  be  sought  by  the  Powers  of  the  West,  especially  by 
Austria  and  England.  Sweden  and  Poland  could  do  him  no 
hurt.  He  surrounded  himself  with  soldiers,  learned  men,  and 
artists.  With  their  help  he  raised  monuments,  built  the  tower 
of  Ivan  the  Great  at  the  Kremlin,  and  had  the  "  queen  of  bells" 
cast.  It  was  he  who  first  sent  young  Russians  to  Liibeck,  P2ng- 
land,  France,  and  Austria,  to  study  European  arts.  The  fashions 
of  the  West  penetrated  to  Moscow,  and  some  of  the  nobles 
began  to  shave  their  beards. 

This  prosperity  was  all  unreal.  His  services — ev^en  his  char- 
ities— turned  against  him.  "  He  presented  to  the  poor,"  says  a 
contemporary,  "  in  a  vase  of  gold,  the  blood  of  the  innocents. 
He  fed  them  with  unholy  alms."  The  oligarchic  party,  ashamed 
of  obeying  a  simple  boyard,  began  to  agitate.  After  having  par- 
doned his  ancient  rival  Belski,  Boris  was  obliged  to  throw  him 
into  prison.  He  acted  with  severity  towards  the  Romanofs, 
who  were  exiled,  many  of  them  having  been  previously  tortured. 
,  Feodor,  the  eldest,  was  forced  to  become  a  monk  under  the  name 
of  Philarete,  and  his  wife  took  the  veil  under  the  name  of  Marfa. 
From  the  son  of  this  monk  and  this  nun,  emperors  were  to  spring. 

Feeling  himself  surrounded  by  plots,  Boris  Godounof  did  not 
hesitate  before  any  means  of  security,  and  received  the  denun- 
ciations of  slaves  against  their  masters.  From  1601  to  1604  a 
frightful  famine  devastated  Russia,  and  was  followed  by  a  pest- 
ilence. The  famished  peasants  joined  the  servants  of  the  dis- 
graced nobles,  and  formed  themselves  into  bands  of  brigands 
who  infested  the  southern  provinces,  and  even  insulted  the 
environs  of  Moscow.  It  was  necessary  to  send  a  regular  army 
against  them.  To  these  calamities  was  added  the  universal  pre- 
sentiment of  others  yet  greater.  The  term  of  seven  j-ears 
assigned  by  the  astrologers  to  the  reign  of  Boris  was  approach- 
ing. The  crime  of  Ouglitch,  still  unexpiated,  had  left  a  strange 
uneasiness  throu;T:hout  Russia.  Suddenlv  there  arose  a  rumor 
that  the  murdered  Dmitri  was  living,  and  with  arms  in  his  hands 
was  making  ready  to  reconquer  the  empire. 

At  the  Monastery  of  the  Miracle  a  young  monk,  Gregory  Otr^- 
pief,  had  brought  himself  into  notice.  After  having  for  a  long 
while  wandered  from  convent  to  convent  at  his  own  pleasure,  he 
finally  reached  the  Monastery  of  the  Miracle;  and  the  Patriarch 
Job  discerning  his  intelligence,  made  him  his  secretary.     In  dis- 


HI STOR  Y  OF  R USSIA.  239 

charge  of  thes*,  runciions,  he  bednie  acquainted  with  more  than 
one  "state  secret.  "  Do  you  know,"  he  used  to  say  to  the  other 
monks,  "  that  I  shall  be  one  day  Tzar  of  Moscow  ?  "  They 
spat  in  his  face,  and  the  Tzar  Boris  Goduonof  ordered  him  to 
be  confined  in  the  Monastery  of  the  White  Lake.  He  succeeded 
in  escaping ;  again  became  a  wandering  monk,  and,  being  well 
received  at  Novgorod-Severski,  had  the  temerity  to  write  to  the 
inhabitants  :  "1  am  the  Tzare'vitch  Dmitri,  and  I  will  not  forget 
your  kindness."  Then  he  threw  his  frock  to  the  winds,  enrolled 
himself  among  the  Zaporogues,  and  became  a  bold  rider  and  a 
brave  Cossack.  He  passed  into  the  service  of  Adam  Vichnev- 
etski,  a  Polish  pan  ;  he  fell  ill,  or  feigned  to  do  so,  summoned  a 
priest,  and  revealed  to  him,  under  the  seal  of  confession,  that  he 
was  the  Tzare'vitch  Dmitri,  who  had  escaped  from  the  hands  ol 
the  assassins  at  Ouglitch,  by  another  child  being  substituted  in 
his  place.  He  showed  a  cross,  set  with  jewels,  that  hung  round 
his  neck,  given  him  by  Mstislavski,  godfather  of  the  Tzarevitch, 
The  Jesuit  did  not  dare  to  keep  such  a  secret  to  himself.  Otre- 
pief  was  recognized  by  his  master,  Vichnevetski,  as  the  son  of 
the  Terrible.  Mniszek,  palatine  of  Sandomir,  promised  him  his 
support  and  the  hand  of  his  daughter,  Marina,  who  consented 
with  joy  to  be  Tzarina  of  Moscow.  The  strange  news  spread 
throughout  the  kingdom.  The  Pope's  nuncio  took  the  Tzarevitch 
under  his  protection,  and  presented  him  to  King  Sigismond. 
Were  they  really  deceived  ?  It  is  more  probable  that  they  saw 
in  him  a  formidable  instrument  of  agitation,  which  the  king 
flattered  himself  he  would  be  able  to  use  against  Russia,  and  the 
Jesuits  against  orthodoxy.  Sigismond  feared  to  take  on  himself 
the  rupture  of  the  truce  he  had  concluded  with  Boris,  and  expose 
himself  to  Russian  vengeance.  He  treated  Otrepief  as  Tzare- 
vitch, but  only  in  private ;  he  refused  to  put  the  royal  troops  at 
his  disposal,  but  he  authorized  the  nobles,  who  were  touched  by 
the  misfortune  of  the  prince,  to  help  him  if  they  wished.  The 
pans  did  not  need  the  royal  authority;  many  of  them,  with  the 
levity  and  love  of  adventure  which  characterized  the  Polish 
nobilitv,  took  up  arms  in  favor  of  the  Tzarevitch.  Then  Boris 
recognized,  says  Leveque,  that  the  weakest  enemy  can  make  a 
usurper  tremble. 

No  revolution,  even  if  it  were  the  wisest  and  most  necessary, 
could  be  accomplished  without  patting  in  motion  the  dregs  of 
society — without  the  clashing  of  a  mass  of  interests,  and  the 
creation  of  a  multitude  who  are  outcasts  from  all  classes.  The 
transformation  which  was  then  taking  place  in  Russia  for  the 
formation  of  the  modern  united  State,  had  engendered  all  these 
elements  of  disorder.     The  peasant  whom  the  laws  of  Boris  had 


2  40  fJ^S  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSTA. 

attached  to   the  glebe,   was  everywhere    sullenly  hostile.     The 
smaller  nobility,  for  whose  profit  this  law  had  been  made,  were 
scarcely  able  to  live  on  their  lands  ;  the  service  of  the  Tzar  had 
become  ruinous,  and  many  were  inclined  to  supplement  the  in- 
sufficiency of  their  revenues  by  brigandage.     The  boyards  and 
the  great  nobility  were  profoundly  demoralized — they  were  ready 
for  any  treason.     Tlie  warlike  republics  of  the  Cossacks  of  the 
Don  and  the  Dnieper,  the  bands  of  serfs,  of  fugitive  peasants, 
who  infested  the  Russian  territory,  only  waited  for  an  opportunity 
to  lay  waste  the  country.     The  ignorance  of  the  masses  was  pro- 
found, and  their  minds  greedy  of  wonders  and  change  ;  no  other 
nation  has  allowed  itself  to  be  deceived  so  often  by  the  same 
fable,  the  sudden  apparition  of  a  prince  whom  all  believed  dead. 
Adventures  like  those  of  Otre'pief  the  false  Dmitri,  and  of  Pouga- 
tchef  the  false  Peter  III.,  could  not  be  reproduced  in  any  other 
European  country.     These  two  adventurers  rendered  themselves 
particularly    famous,  but    the    secret   archives    show    us  that  in 
the  Russia  of  the   17th  and  i8th  centuries   there  were  hundreds 
of  impostors,  of  false  Dmitri's,  false  Alexis,  false  Peters  IL,  and 
false  Peters  III.     We  might  almost  think  that  the  Russians,  the 
most  Asiatic  of    all  European  nations,   had    not  renounced  the 
Oriental  dogma  of   re-incarnations  and  avatars.     The    Govern- 
ment was    powerless,  in  a    country   so  utterly    without  commu 
nication,  to  put  a  stop  to  the  most  absurd  rumors.      Besides,  the 
ignorant  and  superstitious  masses  were  hostile  to  it,  and  delighted 
to  allow  themselves  to  be  deceived.     So  many  elements  of  rebel- 
lion only  required  to  be  set  in  motion  by  the  hand  of  a  skilful 
agitator.     The   entrance   of  the   impostor  into   Russia  was  the 
signal  of  dissolution. 

As  long  as  the  power  lay  in  the  hands  of  the  clever  and 
energetic  Godounof,  he  was  able  to  maintain  order,  to  restrain 
the  authors  of  revolt,  and  to  discourage  ihe  false  Dmitri.  The 
Patriarch  Job  and  Vassili  Chouiski,  who  had  conducted  the 
inquest  at  Ouglitch,  made  proclamations  to  the  people  affirm- 
ing that  Dmitri  was  really  dead,  and  that  the  impostor  was 
none  other  than  Otrepief.  Similar  declarations  were  sent  to 
the  King  and  the  Diet  of  Poland.  Finally,  troops  were  put  in 
marchinjr  order,  and  a  line  of  communications  established  with 
the  Western  frontier.  But  already  the  towns  of  Sevena  revolted 
at  the  approach  of  the  Tzarc'vilch,  and  the  boyards  publicly  an- 
nounced "  that  it  was  hard  to  bear  arms  against  your  lawful 
sovereign."  At  Moscow  the  health  of  the  Tzar  Dmitri  was 
drunk  at  feasts.  In  October  1604,  the  impostor  crossed  the 
frontier  with  an  army  of  Poles,  of  Russians  banished  in  the  pre- 
ceding reign,  and  German  mercenaries.     Severia  at  once  rose, 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


2JI 


and  Novgorod-Severski  opened  her  gates  to  him.  Prince  Mstis- 
lavski  tried  to  check  his  progress  by  a  battle,  but  the  soldiers 
were  struck  bv  the  idea  that  the  man  whom  thev  fought  was  the 
real  Dmitri.  "  They  had  no  hands  to  fight,  but  only  feet  to  fiy," 
Vassili  Chouiski,  Mstislavski's  successor,  did  his  best  to  rally 
their  courage,  and  this  time,  in  spite  of  his  intrepidity,  the  im- 
postor was  defeated  at  Dobrynitchi.  Boris  believed  the  war 
finished;  but  in  reality  it  had  only  begun.  After  Severia  the 
Ukraine  rebelled,  and  4000  Cossacks  of  the  Don  came  to  rejoin 
"  the  brigand."  The  inaction  of  the  Muscovite  voievodes  proved 
that  the  spirit  of  treason  had  already  penetrated  the  nobility. 

In  1605  Boris  died,  commending  his  innocent  son  to  the  care 
of  Basmanof,  the  boyards,  the  Patriarch,  and  the  people  of 
Moscow.  But  hardly  had  Basmanof  taken  the  command  of  the 
army  of  Severia,  than  he  understood  that  neither  the  soldiers 
nor  the  leaders  were  going:  to  fight  for  a  Godounof.  Rather 
than  be  the  victim  of  treason,  he  preferred  being  the  author  of 
it.  The  man  in  whom  the  dying  Boris  had  placed  all  his  confi- 
dence united  with  Galitsyne  and  Soltykof,  secret  adherents  of 
the  impostor.  He  solemnly  announced  to  the  troops  that 
Dmitri  was  in  truth  the  son  of  Ivan  the  Terrible  and  the  lawful 
master  of  Russia,  and  was  the  first  to  throw  himself  at  the  feet 
of  the  Pretender,  who  was  at  once  proclaimed  by  the  troops. 
Dmitri  marched  to  Moscow  ;  at  his  approach  his  partisans  rose, 
and  the  wife  and  son  of  Godounof  were  massacred.  Such  was 
the  end  of  the  dynasty  which  Boris  had  thought  to  found  in  the 
blood  of  a  Tzarrfvitch ! 


24a  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA, 


CHAPTER   XVIII, 

THE  TIME   OF   THE   TROUBLES    (1605-1613). 

Murder  of  the  false  Dmitri — Vassili  Chouiski— The  brigand  of  Touchino— 
Vladislas  of  Poland— The  Poles  at  the  Kremlin — National  rising— Minine 
and  Pojarski — Election  of  Michael  Romanof. 


MURDER   OF   THE    FALSE    DMITRI — VASSILI    CHOUISKI — THE     BRIG 

AND   OF   TOUCHINO. 

The  event  that  had  taken  place  in  Russia  is  one  of  the  most 
extraordinary  in  the  annals   of   the    world.     A   runaway  monk 
entered    Moscow    in    triumph    as   her   Tzar,  among    the    joyful 
tears  of  the  people,  who  thought   they   beheld   a   descendant  of 
their  long  line  of  princes.     Only  one  man  had   the   courage   to 
afhrm  that  he  had  seen   Dmitri    assassinated,  and   that  the  new 
Tzar  was  an  impostor.     This  was  Vassili  Chouiski,  one  of  those 
who  had  directed  the  inquest  at  Ouglitch,  and  who  had  defeated 
the  Pretender  at  the  battle  of  Dobrynitchi.     Denounced  by  Bas- 
manof,  he  was  condemned  to  death  by  an  assembly  of  the  three 
orders,  and  his  head  was  actually  on  the  block,  when  he  received 
a  pardon   from   the   Tzar.     Men  did  not  recognize   the   son   of 
Ivan   the   Terrible   in   this   act   of  clemency,  and  Olrepief  had 
afterwards   cause   to   repent  of  it.     Job,  the   tool  of  Godounof, 
was  replaced  in  the  patriarchate  by  a  favorite  of  the  new  prince, 
the  Greek  Ignatius.     The  Tzar  had    an  interview  with  his  pre- 
tended mother,  Maria  Nagoi,  widow  of  Ivan  IV.     Whether  be- 
cause she  wished  to   avenge  her  injuries,  or  merely  to   recover 
her  honors,  Maria  recognized  Olrepief  as  her   son,  and  publicly 
embraced  him.     He  loaded  the  Nagoiis,  whom  he  regarded  as 
fiis  maternal  relations,  with  favors;  the  Romanofs  were  likewise 
recalled  from  exile,  and  Philarete  made  Metropolitan  of  Rostof. 
The  Tzar  presided  regularly  at  the  dotwia,  where  the  boyards 
admired  the  clearness  of  his  apprehension  and  the  variety  of  his 
knowledge.     As  a  monk  he  was  a  man  of  letters,  and  as  a  pupil  of 
the  Zaporogues  an  accomplished  horseman,  bold  and  skilful  in 
all  bodily  exercises.     He  was  fond  of  foreigners,  and  even  spoke 


HISTOR  V  OF  RUSSIA.  24j 

of  sending  the  Russian  nobles  to  be  educated  in  the  West.  This 
taste  for  strangers  went  hand  in  hand  with  a  certain  contempt 
for  the  national  ignorance  and  grossness.  He  offended  the 
boyards  by  his  raillery,  and  alienated  the  people  and  the  clergy 
by  his  disdain  of  Russian  customs  and  religious  rites,  lie  ate 
veal,  never  slept  after  dinner,  did  not  take  baths,  borrowed 
money  from  the  convents,  turned  the  monks  into  ridicule,  fought 
with  bears,  visited  jewellers  and  foreign  artisans  familiarly,  and 
took  no  heed  of  the  severe  Court  etiquette.  He  pointed  cannons 
with  his  own  hand  ;  organized  sham  fights  between  the  national 
troops  and  the  foreign  mercenaries ;  was  pleased  to  see  the 
Russians  beaten  by  the  Germans  ;  and  surrounded  himself  by  a 
European  guard,  with  Margeret,  Knutsen,  and  Van  Dennen  at 
its  head.  On  his  entry  into  Moscow  a  struggle  took  place 
between  the  clergy  and  the  papal  legate,  and  two  bishops  were 
exiled.  He  got  no  thanks  for  resisting  the  legate  and  Poland — 
for  declining  to  help  the  one  to  effect  the  union  of  the  two 
Churches,  and  refusing  to  cede  to  the  other  an  inch  of  Russian 
land.  The  arrival  of  his  wife,  the  Catholic  Marina,  with  a  suite 
of  Polish  gentlemen,  who  assumed  an  insolent  demeanor  towards 
the  Russians,  completed  the  irritation  of  the  Muscovites.  Less 
than  thirty  days  after  his  entrance  into  the  Kremlin,  men  were 
ripe  for  a  revolution. 

Vassili  Choui'ski,  pardoned  by  Otrepief,  was  the  head  of  the 
conspirators.  The  extreme  confidence  of  the  Tzar  was  his  ruin. 
One  night  the  boyards  attacked  the  Kremlin,  which  had  been 
left  unguarded.  Otrepief  was  thrown  out  of  a  window,  and 
stabbed  in  the  court  of  the  palace  ;  Basmanof,  who  defended  him, 
being  killed  by  his  side.  They  took  the  two  corpses,  put  ribald 
masks  on  their  faces,  and  exposed  them  on  the  place  of  execu- 
tions between  a  flute  and  a  bag-pipe.  The  widow  of  Otrepief, 
and  the  Polish  envoys  sent  to  assist  at  the  wedding,  were  spared, 
but  kept  prisoners  by  the  boyards.  The  corpse  of  the  "  sorcerer  " 
was  burned,  and  a  cannon  was  charged  with  his  ashes,  which 
were  blown  to  the  winds  (1606). 

It  was  now  necessary  to  elect  a  new  Tzar.  Two  candidates, 
two  chiefs  of  princely  families,  presented  themselves,  Vassili 
Chouiski  and  Vassili  Galitsyne.  Chouiski  had  signalized  him 
self  by  his  hatred  of  the  usurper,  had  defeated  him  in  battle,  had 
been  condemned  by  him  to  death,  and  had  been  foremost  in  the 
conspiracy.  The  boyards  would  have  preferred  assembling  the 
States-general,  as  in  1598,  but  Vassili  would  not  await  their 
decision.  More  impatient  and  less  wise  than  Boris  Godounof, 
he  chose  to  owe  his  crown  to  the  Muscovites  alone,  and  not  to 
t|ie  (delegates  of  the  whple  nation,     It  was  the  original  sin  of  the 


244 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


new  administration.  Vassili  had  on  his  side  neither  hereditary 
right,  like  the  ancient  Tzars,  nor  the  vote  of  the  three  orders, 
Hlce  Boris.  His  claim  to  the  throne  thus  remained  dubious  in 
times  of  the  greatest  disturbance.  The  Patriarch  Ignatius,  the 
nominee  of  the  impostor,  was  replaced  by  Hermogenes.  Thus, 
at  each  change  in  the  government,  a  corresponding  change  took 
place  in  the  first  dignity  of  the  Church. 

On  ascending  the  throne,  Vassili  swore  a  solemn  oath  to  put 
no  boyard  to  death  without  trial,  not  to  confiscate  the  goods  of 
criminals,  and  to  chastise  calumniators.  True  Russians  felt  pro- 
found sorrow  when  they  saw  the  Tzar  thus  despoil  himself  of  his 
sovereign  rights,  and  alienate  part  of  his  autocratic  power  for  the 
benefit  of  the  boyards.  He  was  entering,  indeed,  on  the  path 
of  ihe  pacta  co?ivcnta,  which,  at  every  new  election  in  Poland,  de- 
pri\  ed  the  king  of  some  of  his  attributes,  and  led  to  the  enfee- 
bling of  the  crown,  and  the  triumph  of  the  aristocratic  anarchy 
of  the  nobles. 

1  he  provinces  were  discontented  at  not  being  consulted  in 
the  «:hoice  of  a  sovereign.  They  learnt  almost  at  the  same 
moment  that  Dmitri  had  regained  the  throne  of  his  forefathers  ; 
then  that  Dmitri  was  an  impostor,  who  had  usurped  the  throne 
by  the  aid  of  the  devil  ;  finally,  that  a  new  Tzar  reigned  over 
Russia.  They  did  not  know  what  to  believe,  or  in  whom  to  trust ; 
everything  seemed  doubtful.  The  Russian  conscience  was  greatly 
troubled,  and,  in  the  universal  demoralization,  adventurers  found 
an  easy  road  to  success. 

Vassili,  who  was  fifty  years  old,  wanted  both  energy  and 
prestige.  He  had  specially  distinguished  himself  by  his  talents 
for  intrigue,  and  even  his  partisans  reproached  him  with  avarice. 
The  elements  of  disorder  put  in  motion  by  the  last  two  revolu- 
tions, were  not  yet  appeased.  Neither  ambitious  boyards,  nor 
felonious  nobles,  nor  insurgent  peasants,  nor  brigands,  nor  the 
Cossacks  and  Zaporogues,  nor  the  companies,  nor  the  foreign 
mercenaries  were  satisfied.  In  such  a  situation  it  was  inevitable 
that  a  new  impostor  should  take  the  place  of  the  former,  and 
again  furnish  the  worst  passions  with  an  outlet.  Instead  of  one, 
there  were  two  Pretenders  :  on  one  side  a  Cossack  of  Terek 
gave  himself  out  to  be  the  Tzar^vitch  Peter,  a  pretended  son  of 
the  chaste  Feodor  ;  on  the  other,  it  was  announced  that  Dmitri 
had,  for  the  second  time,  escaped  his  murderers.  The  same 
transparent  fable  was  always  received  with  the  same  credulity, 
real  or  feigned.  At  Moscow  the  people  recalled  the  fact  that 
the  face  of  the  corpse  exposed  on  the  Red  Place  was  covered 
with  a  mask.  Vassili  tried  in  vain  to  disabuse  the  people  ;  he 
was  not  more  successful  than  Boris.     Had  not  Boris  overwhelmed 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


245 


the  Muscovites  and  the  King  of  Poland  with  evidence  ?  Severia 
and  the  turbulent  cities  of  the  South  again  rose  ;  the  discon- 
tented masses  armed  again  for  a  new  Otrepief  against  a  new 
Godounof.  \x\  the  South,  a  certain  Bolotnikof,  by  birth  a  serf, 
called  all  the  brigands,  all  slaves  and  peasants  to  his  standard, 
and  began  a  servile  war.  IJy  his  side,  Prince  Chakovskoi 
Pachkof,  one  of  the  die'ti-boyarski<f,  the  voievode  Soundoulof,  and 
the  aristocratic  Procopius  Lapounof,  organized  the  war  of  the 
nobles.  On  the  banks  of  ihe  Volga,  the  Tatars  and  Finnish 
tribes,  under  pretext  of  sustaining  the  son  of  Ivan  the  Terrible, 
proclaimed  their  national  independence.  The  empire  was 
menaced  with  total  dissolution  by  the  reaction  of  all  the  forces 
till  then  repressed  by  the  strong  hand  of  the  Tzars. 

The  reappearance  of  the  false  Dmitri  was  announced  through- 
out Russia.  In  reality  no  one  had  dared  to  take  up  this  role; 
but  the  impostor  was  so  universally  necessary  that  he  was  every- 
where recognized  even  before  he  existed.  Polotnikof  and  his 
peasants  threatened  the  capital,  and  agitated  the  lower  classes 
of  Moscow.  The  Tzar  Chouiski  seemed  lost,  when  he  was  saved 
by  the  military  talents  of  his  nephew,  Skopine  Chouiski.  La- 
pounof and  two  other  leaders  took  fright,  and  were  disgusted 
with  their  popular  allies  ;  they  separated  from  Bolotnikof,  offered 
to  submit  to  the  Tzar,  and  were  received  at  Moscow  with  caresses. 
Bolotnikof,  left  alone,  fell  back  on  Toula,  and  was  so  closely 
pressed  that  he  wrote  to  Mniszek  that  ali  was  lost  if  he  could 
not  produce  the  false  Dmitri.  At  last  the  desired  one,  expected 
by  all  the  rebels,  appeared.  His  real  name  is  undivulged ;  hi? 
origin  is  uncertain  ;  he  is  only  mentioned  by  the  title  of  the 
"second  false  Dmitri."  All  we  know  of  him  is  that  he  was  a 
clever,  intelligent  man,  tolerably  educated,  and  very  brutal.  He 
came  too  late  to  save  Toula.  Bolotnikof  was  drowned,  and  the 
false  Peter  hanged. 

Lissovski  and  Rojinski,  two  Polish  nobles  of  great  repute, 
soon  came  to  the  aid  of  the  false  Dmitri.  The  Zaporogues  and 
the  Cossacks  of  the  Don,  under  Zaroutski,  hastened  to  take  part 
in  the  expected  booty.  It  is  a  curious  fact  that  there  were  in 
their  ranks  five  or  six  impostors,  w'ho  all  gave  themselves  out  as 
being  sons  or  grandsons  of  Ivan  the  Terrible.  With  all  these 
forces  the  impostor  marched  on  Moscow,  defeated  the  detach- 
ments of  the  Tzar's  armv,  and  established  himself  twelve  versts 
from  the  capital,  at  the  village  of  Touchino.  This  encampment 
has  remained  celebrated  in  the  history  of  the  troubles  ;  it  has 
gained  for  this  second  impostor  the  surname  of  the  brigand  of 
Touchino,  and  for  his  Russian  partisans  the  designation  of 
Touchinists,     Thus  in  face  of  the  Tzar  of  Moscow — the  nominee 


2  46  HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA. 

of  the  Muscovites,  who  hardly  seemed  the  Tzar  of  Russia — 
stood  the  Tzar  of  Touchino.  He,  Hke  his  rival,  had  his  Court, 
his  army,  his  administration.  He  distributed  tules  and  digni. 
ties  ;  and — evidence  of  profound  popular  degradation — an  am- 
bitious crowd  was  to  be  seen  passing  from  one  court  to  the 
other,  falling  at  the  feet  of  both  Tzars,  receiving  double  pay, 
and,  loaded  with  honors  by  Vassili,  flying  to  Dmitri,  to  return 
again  to  Vassili.  A  sobriquet  was  invented  to  designate  these 
refugees.     They  were  called  "  birds  of  passage  "  {perek'/i). 

Whilst  Touchino  menaced  and  braved  Moscow,  Polish  rein- 
forcements flocked  to  the  camp  of  the  brigand,  in  spite  of  the 
promises  and  assurances  of  the  perfidious  Sigismond.  The 
celebrated  voievode,  John  Sapieha,  came  to  join  Lissovski,  and 
they  both  tried  to  capture  the  Troitsa  monastery.  This  famous 
convent  tempted  them  by  its  riches.  With  its  ramparts  and 
towers,  it  was  a  strong  place  of  arms  for  the  partisans  of  the 
Tzar  ;  its  monks  were  convinced  that  they  knew  how  the  country 
was  to  be  saved,  and  did  not  cease  to  call  all  the  neighboring 
cities  to  take  up  arms  "  for  faith  and  the  Tzar."  These  warlike 
monks,  who  were  like  the  "  Church  militant  "  of  the  French 
League — though  they,  to  be  sure,  defended  at  once  the  national 
and  the  orthodox  cause — repelled  all  the  assaults  of  the  Catholic 
adventurers.  After  a  siege  of  sixteen  months,  Sapieha  had  to 
acknowledge  himself  beaten,  Abraham  Palitsyne,  treasurer  of 
the  convent,  has  narrated  the  exploits  of  his  brethren.  Souzdal, 
Vladimir,  Pereiaslaf,  Rostof,  and  eighteen  other  northern  towns, 
not  being  able  to  decide  which  was  the  legilimate  sovereign, 
opened  their  gates  to  the  Touchinists.  Chouiski  was  still  dis- 
liked at  Moscow,  but  they  knew  what  they  had  to  expect  from 
the  second  false  Dmitri.  Plonest  people  who  did  not  look  for- 
ward to  the  triumph  of  the  brigand,  and  who  saw  no  possible 
Tzar  but  Vassili,  forced  themselves  to  support  him.  What 
saved  the  capital  was  the  bad  discipline  that  reigned  in  the 
enemy's  camp ;  new  rebellions  broke  out  against  the  rebel. 
Serfs  and  mougiks  threatened  their  masters  and  ravaged  the 
country,  and  the  brigand  was  forced  to  employ  part  of  his  forces 
to  suppress  this  brigandage. 

About  this  time  the  Tzar  Chouiski  turned  tor  nelp  to 
Sweden  ;  he  ceded  the  town  of  Karela  to  Charles  IX.,  contracted 
with  him  an  offensive  and  defensive  alliance  against  Poland, 
and  received  in  return  a  body  of  5000  Swedes,  under  the  com- 
mand of  De  la  Gardie,  With  this  reinforcement,  Skopine 
Chouiski  expelled  the  Touchinists  from  the  cities  of  the  North, 
advanced  on  Moscow,  and  obliged  the  brigand  to  evacuate 
Touchino.     The  perfidious   policy  of  the  Polish   government, 


HISTORY  OF  RUSS/A, 


247 


which  armed  the  impostors  against  the  Tzar  and  allowed  their 
.'oievodes  to  attack  a  friendly  country,  amply  justified  Chouiski 
/n  seeking  an  ally  in  Sweden.  But  this  foreign  intervention 
gave  rise  to  another :  the  King  of  Poland,  affecting  to  think 
himself  endangered  bv  the  Tzar's  alliance  with  his  worst  enemv, 
decided  to  drop  the  mask  and  openly  interfere.  It  was  thus 
that  under  the  most  fatal  auspices  the  long  rivalry  began  be- 
tween these  two  Slav  nations,  whom  statesmanship  had  once 
tried  to  unite  under  the  same  sceptre.  Poland,  g<jverned  by  an 
instrument  of  the  Jesuits,  inflicted  on  Russia  a  frightful  wrong. 
Sigismond  disloyally  affected  zeal  for  a  pretender  whom  he 
knew  to  be  an  impostor;  he  violated  treaties  and  all  the  rights 
of  nations;  allowinsf  Russia  to  be  attacked  bv  his  armies,  all  the 
while  that  he  was  asserting  his  peaceful  disposition.  His  inva- 
sion of  Russia  filled  up  the  measure  of  his  iniquities.  This 
conduct  necessarily  left  ineffaceable  memories  in  the  hearts  of 
the  Russians. 

I>y  taking  up  arms,  Sigismond  intended  to  assure  to  his  son 
the  throne  of  Russia,  and  restore  to  Poland  the  places  she  had 
lost  in  the  15th  century.  He  besieged  Smolensk,  and  wrote  to 
announce  to  the  inhabitants  that  he  did  not  come  to  shed  the 
blood  of  the  Russians,  but,  on  the  contrary,  to  protect  them  ; 
and  that  he  was  prepared  to  guarantee  to  them  the  maintenance 
of  their  worship  and  liberties.  Tire  people  of  Smolensk,  who 
knew  the  ardor  with  which  Sigismond  persecuted  orthodoxy  in 
his  own  dominions,  repelled  all  his  advances,  and  the  voievode 
Cheiin  made  ready  to  defend  the  town  to  the  last.  Sigismond 
wrote  from  his  camp  at  Smolensk  to  the  Polish  voievodes  who 
were  serving  under  the  impostor,  with  orders  to  abandon  him. 
The  Polish  Touchinists  obeyed  with  regret,  complaining  that  the 
king  would  appropriate  the  re'vard  of  their  toils  ;  the  Russian 
Touchinists,  not  knowing  what  to  do,  followed  their  allies,  and, 
already  accustomed  to  every  sort  of  treason,  made  their  submis- 
sion to  the  king,  and  offered  to  recognize  his  son  Vladislas  as 
Tzar  of  Russia.  At  the  head  of  these  refugees  were  the  boyard 
Michael  Soltykof  and  the  currier  Andronof. 

Chouiski  had  now  two  enemies  equally  formidable — the  King 
of  Poland  and  the  false  Dmitri,  who,  himself  threatened  by  the 
ambition  of  his  roval  rival,  had  to  retreat  to  the  South.  Vassili's 
nephew,  Skopine,  who  had  saved  him  by  his  victories,  and  won 
him  popularity  by  his  frank  manners,  died  in  the  midst  of  his 
successes.  The  people  then  revived  their  old  dislike  of  the 
Tzar,  and  accused  him  of  poisoning  his  nephew.  Another  of 
the  Chouiskis,  the  ambitious  Dmitri,  was  also  involved  in  the 
accusation.     Dmitri  Chouiskij  as  unpopular  with  the  army  as  he 


248  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

was  with  the  capital,  was  betrayed  in  battle  by  the  foreign  regi- 
ments, and  this  defeat  completed  the. ruin  of  Vassili.  The  peo- 
ple rose  in  Moscow  ;  a  great  assembly  of  the  populace  and  the 
boyards  was  held  in  the  plains  of  Serpoukhof.  The  Tzar  was 
''  humbly  requested  "  to  vacate  the  throne,  because  he  caused 
Christian  blood  to  be  shed,  and  was  not  successful  in  his  gov- 
ernment. The  southern  frontier  towns  also  refused  to  obey  him. 
Vassili  Chouiski  yielded,  and  abdicated  ;  a  short  time  afterwards 
he  was  forced  to  become  a  monk. 


VLADISLAS  OF  POLAND THE  POLES  AT  THE  KREMLIN. 

Everyone  was  obliged  to  take  an  oath  of  obedience  to  the 
dotifna  of  boyards,  who  naturally  seized  the  executive  power 
during  the  interval  before  the  election  of  a  new  Tzar.  There 
were  two  candidates  for  the  vacant  throne — Vladislas,  son  of 
the  King  of  Poland,  and  the  false  Dmitri.  Now  the  latter  was 
evidently  an  impostor.  He  ruled  the  upper  and  middle  classes 
b\-  terror  alone,  and  had  only  the  populace  on  his  side.  As  they 
could  not  at  once  get  rid  of  both  the  Poles  and  the  brigand  of 
Touchino,  thev  chose  the  lesser  of  the  two  evils. 

A  Polish  army,  under  the  hetman  Zolkiewski,  had  arrived  at 
Mojaisk :  the  impostor  occupied  Kolomenskoe.  The  boyards 
invited  Zolkiewski  to  approach  Moscow,  and  they  began  to  nego- 
tiate. The  hetman  promised  in  the  name  of  the  young  prince  to 
maintain  orthodoxy,  the  liberties  and  privileges  of  the  orders,  the 
partition  of  legislative  power  between  the  king  and  the  douina.  No 
one  was  to  be  executed  without  a  trial,  nor  deprived  of  his 
dignities  without  a  reason;  all  Muscovites  might  go,  if  they 
wished,  to  be  educated  abroad.  The  Russians  began  to  like  the 
Polish  system  of  \.\\&  pacta  conventa.  The  inhabitants  of  Moscow 
vowed  fealty  to  the  Tzar  Vladislas.  One  point  still  remained  to 
be  decided — the  Russians  desired  that  Vladislas  should  embrace 
orthodoxy.  Zolkiewski  reserved  the  decision  to  the  King  of 
Poland.  He  induced  the  boyards  to  send  ambassadors  to  Sigis- 
mond,  and  Prince  Vassili  Galitsyne  and  the  Metropolitan  Phila- 
rete  Romanof  left  immediately  for  the  camp  at  Smolensk.  This 
terrible  crisis  seemed  at  the  point  of  disentangling  itself  in  away 
that  was  tolerably  advantageous  for  Russia.  She  was  to  have  a 
foreign  sovereign,  but  one  already  acquainted  with  Slav  man- 
ners, and  his  being  a  foreigner  was  even  a  gage  for  the  parti- 
sans of  reforms  and  Western  civilization.  Poland  and  Russia, 
which  might  have  united  under  Ivan  and  under  Feodor,  had 
aix)ther  chance  of  doing  so  under  a  Polish  prince.     Such   was 


ins  TOR  V  OF  R  USS/A.  2  49 

the  confidence  of  the  boyards,  that,  finding  the  security  of  Mos- 
cow troubled  by  the  neighborhood  of  the  impostor,  they  pro- 
posed to  Zolkiew'ski  to  enter  into  the  town  and  even  the  Kremlin. 
This  unpatriotic  resolution,  dictated  to  the  nobles  by  their 
mistrust  of  the  lower  classes,  was  to  bring  fatal  consequences  on 
Moscow.  Zolkiewski  wished  to  take  his  guarantees  against  the 
chiefs  of  the  nation  :  Galitsyne  and  Philarete  were  already  under 
Smolensk  at  the  discretion  of  the  king ;  he  sent  for  the  fallen 
Tzar  also  and  his  two  brothers  as  hostages. 

Sigismond  meditated  a  new  treachery  against  Russia.  His 
object  was  to  conquer  Muscovy,  not  for  his  son,  but  for  himself. 
He  stipulated  with  the  ambassadors  that  Smolensk  should  be 
ceded  to  Poland,  but  they  courageously  repelled  this  proposi- 
tion. They  demanded  on  their  own  part  that  Vladislas  should 
leave  immediately  for  Moscow,  as  being  the  only  means  for  allay- 
ing the  suspicions  to  which  the  conduct  of  the  king  had  given 
rise.  Sigismond  refused.  He  wished  to  be  Tzar  himself.  In 
despair  of  conquering  the  scruples  of  the  two  chief  ambas- 
sadors, he  addressed  himself  to  their  inferior  colleagues.  The 
Secretary  Tomila,  on  being  asked  to  open  the  gates  of  Smolensk, 
reiilied  :'"  If  I  were  to  do  it,  not  only  would  God  and  the  Mus- 
covites curse  me,  but  the  earth  would  open  and  swallow  me.  We 
are  sent  to  negotiate  in  the  interests  of  our  country,  not  of  our- 
selves." All  the  Russians  did  not  show  this  probity.  The  dis- 
gusting spectacle  of  the  camp  of  Touchino  was  repeated  at 
Smolensk.  Men  crowded  round  the  king,  as  formerly  around 
the  brigand,  to  wring  from  him  dignities,  land,  and  money. 
Soltykof,  Mslislavski,^and  the  currier  Andronof  especially  dis- 
tinguished themselves  by  their  baseness.  At  Moscow  the  boy- 
ards denounced  each  other  to  the  commandant  of  the  Polish 
garrison.  By  the  suggestion  of  Soltykof  they  wrote  to  the  king 
to  beg  him  to  make  his  entry  into  Moscow.  The  Patriarch  Her- 
mogenes  refused  to  sign  the  letter,  and  the  people,  more  patri- 
otic than  the  boyards,  supported  the  Patriarch.  Some  few 
nobles,  like  Andrew  Galitsyne  and  Ivan  Vorotinski  had  the  honor 
of  being  suspected  by  the  Poles,  and  were  arrested  by  Leo 
Sapieha,  successor  of  Zolkiewski.  l]y  permitting  the  Poles  to 
enter  the  towns,  the  oligarchs  had  put  Russia  in  the  power  of 
the  King  of  Poland. 

About  this  time  the  second  impostor  died,  assassinated  by 
one  of  his  private  enemies.  His  death  had  grave  consequences. 
It  healed  misunderstandings,  as,  since  the  false  Dmitri  was  dead, 
Sigismond  had  no  longer  any  pretext  for  keeping  his  troops  in 
Russia.  The  nobles  had  now  no  motive  for  distrusting  the 
people,  and  could  unite  with  them  against  the  strangers.     Whis. 


250 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


pers  were  heard  in  the  streets  of  Moscow  that  it  was  necessary 
to  combine  against  the  Lithuanians.  Soltykof  and  Andronof  de- 
nounced these  generous  intentions  to  the  enemy.  The  Patriarch 
Hermogenes,  suspected  of  patriotism,  was  thrown  into  prison, 
where  he  afterwards  died  of  hunger.  The  provinces  were  agi- 
tated, and  the  inhabitants  of  Smolensk  and  Moscow  wrote  to  all 
the  towns  entreating  them  not  to  accept  the  perfidious  enemy  of 
orthodoxy  as  their  prince.  The  citizens  did  their  part,  the 
dicfi-boyarskie  made  their  preparations  for  war,  and  Lapounof 
collected  an  army  at  Riazan.  At  his  approach  Moscow  began  to 
fill  with  reinforcements,  and  the  Poles  fortified  the  rampart  of 
the  Kremlin.  Suddenly  a  quarrel  broke  out  between  the  people 
and  the  soldiers.  In  the  first  heat  the  Poles  and  Germans  are 
said  to  have  massacred  7000  men  ;  but  resistance  was  organized 
in  the  streets  of  the  Bielyi-gorod,  and  the  foreigners,  repulsed  by 
Prince  Pojarski,  had  to  intrench  themselves  in  the  Kremlin  and 
the  Kitai-gorod.  To  clear  the  neighborhood,  the  Poles  set  fire 
to  the  neighboring  streets.  Moscow  was  almost  entirely  in 
flames. 

On  hearing  of  the  preparations  of  Lapounof  and  the  revolt 
of  Moscow,  Sigismond  caused  the  Muscovite  ambassadors, 
Galitsyne  and  Philarete,  to  be  arrested,  and  sent  them  prisoners 
to  Marienburg,  in  Prussia.  A  short  time  afterwards  Smolensk 
fell,  after  a  resistance  compared  by  the  Poles  themselves  to  that 
of  Saguntum,  though  the  king  was  not  ashamed  to  torture  the 
brave  voievode  Chein,  who  had  dared  to  resist  him.  He  entered 
Warsaw  in  triumph,  and  the  unhappy  Vassili  Chouiiski,  a  Tzar 
of  Russia,  was  dragged  a  prisoner  through  the  streets  in  triumj-jh. 
Lapounof  was  now  reinforced  by  Prince  Troubetskoi  and  Ivan 
Zaroutski,  at  the  head  of  the  Cossacks  of  the  Don.  A  hundred 
thousand  men  besieged  the  Poles,  who  were  shut  up  in  the 
Kremlin,  but  the  elements  composing  this  large  army  were  too 
conflicting  and  corrupt  for  the  enterprise  to  succeed.  The  three 
leaders  were  mutually  jealous  of  each  other.  Lapounof  had 
conunitted  more  than  one  treason,  Zaroutski  had  been  one  of 
the  first  to  declare  for  Otrepief,  and  the  others  were  hardly  more 
loyal.  The  soldiers  of  Lapounof  hated  the  Cossacks,  who  on 
their  part  only  sought  occasions  for  pillage.  The  Poles  man- 
aged to  raise  the  men  of  the  Don,  by  inventing  a  pretended  letter 
of  Lapounof,  saying,  "'  Wherever  you  take  them,  slay  them  or 
drown  them."  A  revolt  broke  out  in  the  camp  :  Lapounof  was 
assassinated,  many  of  his  adherents  were  murdered,  and  this 
great  army  was  miserably  dispersed. 

Russia,  a  prey  to  civil  war,  as  was  France  of  the  16th  ceri' 
tury  to  the  wars  of  religion,  suffered,  like  her,  from  foreign  in' 


HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA.  2  3 1 

tervention.  In  France,  English  and  Spaniards  watched  the  tides 
of  party  success,  and  profited  by  them  all  to  gain  some  place  or 
some  province.  Russia  became  the  theatre  of  war  for  two  rival 
Powers,  Catholic  Poland  and  Lutheran  Sweden.  When  Vladis- 
las  was  proclaimed  Tzar,  Sweden  considered  herself  offended, 
and  acted  as  an  enemy.  De  la  Gardie  took  the  ports  of  the 
Baltic;  and  the  boyards  of  Novgorod  the  Great,  imitating  those 
of  Moscow,  opened  the  gates  to  the  foreigners.  It  was  under 
the  protection  of  Poland  that  the  first  two  impostors  had  arisen 
in  the  west  and  south ;  under  the  protection  of  Sweden  a  third 
false  Dmitri  started  up  in  the  country  of  Pskof.  Marina 
Mniszek  on  her  side,  who  after  the  death  of  Otrepief  had  thrown 
herself  into  the  arms  of  the  brigand  Touchino,  acknowledged 
the  Cossack  Zaroutski  as  guardian  of  her  son. 


NATIONAL   RISING — J^IININE  AND   POJARSKI — ELECTION   OF 
MICHAEL   ROMANOF. 

The  situation  of  Russia,  like  that  of  France  during  the  Eng- 
lish wars,  or  the  wars  of  the  League,  was  frightful.  The  Tzar 
was  prisoner,  the  Patriarch  captive,  the  Swedes  at  Novgorod  the 
Great,  the  Poles  at  the  Kremlin,  and  the  higher  nobility  bought 
by  the  strangers.  Everywhere  bands  of  brigands  and  highway- 
men pillaged  towns,  tortured  peasants,  and  desecrated  churches. 
Famine  increased :  in  certain  districts  men  were  driven  to  eat 
human  fiesh.  This  country,  accustomed  to  be  governed  auto- 
cratically, had  no  longer  any  government.  In  her  supreme  need, 
who  was  to  save  Russia  ?  It  was  the  people,  by  a  movement 
similar  to  that  which  in  France  produced  Joan  of  Arc;  it  was 
the  people,  in  the  largest  acceptation  of  the  word,  including  the 
honest  nobility  and  the  patriotic  clergy.  Already  miraculous 
rumors  showed  the  excitement  that  possessed  all  minds.  At 
Nijni-Novgorod,  at  Vladimir,  apparitions  were  seen.  The  nionks 
of  Troitsa,  with  the  hegumene  Dionysius  and  treasurer-historian 
Palitsyne  at  their  head,  sent  letters  to  all  the  Russian  cities. 
The  citizens  of  Kazan  raised  the  distant  Russia  of  the  Kama. 
When  the  despatches  from  Troitsa  reached  Nijni,  and  the  pro- 
topope  read  them  to  the  assembled  people,  a  citizen  of  the  town, 
the  butcher  Kouzma  Minine,  rose.  "  If  we  wish,"  he  said  "  to 
save  the  Muscovite  Empire,  we  must  spare  neither  our  lands  nor 
our  goods ;  let  us  sell  our  houses,  and  put  our  wives  and  children 
to  service  ;  let  us  seek  a  man  who  will  fight  for  the  orthodox 
faith,  and  march  under  his  banner."  To  give  up  all,  and  to  arm 
themselves,  such  was  the  word  that  was  handed  round.     Minine 


252 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


and  others  gave  the  third  of  their  possessions  ;  one  woman  who 
had  12,000  roubles  gave  10,000  of  them.  Those  who  hesitated 
to  contribute  had  to  do  it  by  force.  Minine  only  accepted  the 
office  of  treasurer  of  the  insurrection  on  condition  that  his  fel- 
low-citizens should  place  themselves  absolutely  at  his  discretion. 
A  chief  was  necessary  ;  the  people  saw  that  he  must  be  a  noble. 
Now  at  Starodoub  lived  Prince  Dmitri  Pojarski,  still  weak  from 
wounds  he  had  received  in  the  revolt  of  Moscow.  Minine  went 
to  seek  him,  and  besought  him  to  take  the  command  of  the 
army.  Their  preparations  then  began,  and  they  fasted  and 
prayed.  Russia  felt  herself  in  a  state  of  sin  ;  she  had  taken  and 
violated  so  many  oaths — to  Godounof,  to  his  son  Feodor,  to 
Otre'pief,  to  Chouiski,  to  Vladislas.  Three  days  of  fast  were 
commanded.  Everyone  took  part  in  it,  even  the  infants  at  the 
breast.  With  the  money  collected  they  organized  the  streltsi^ 
and  equipped  the  dic'ti-boyarskie  ;  but  they  refused  to  admit  those 
impure  elements  which  had  imperilled  the  national  cause.  They 
would  have  none  of  the  help  of  Margeret,  the  mercenary  who 
had  perjured  himself  so  many  times,  nor  of  the  pillaging  and 
murdering  Cossacks.  They  remembered  the  assassination  of 
Lapounof. 

With  the  army  marched  the  bishops  and  monks ;  the  holy 
images  were  borne  at  the  head  of  the  columns.  This  enthusiasm 
did  not  exclude  political  wisdom  ;  they  wished  at  least  to  secure 
the  support  of  Sweden  against  Poland,  so  they  amused  de  la  Gar- 
die  by  negotiating  for  the  election  of  a  Swedish  prince.  When 
the  troops  had  completely  assembled  at  laroslavl,  they  marched 
on  Moscow.  The  Cossacks  of  Zaroutski  and  Troubetskoii  were 
still  encamped  under  its  walls ;  but  these  two  armies,  though 
fighting  for  the  same  object,  could  not  act  together.  An  attempt 
to  murder  Pojarski  had  increased  the  mistrust  of  the  men  of  the 
Don.  When,  however,  the  hetman  Chodkiewitz  tried  to  throw  a 
detachment  into  Moscow,  he  was  defeated  on  the  left  bank  of 
the  Moskowa  by  Pojarski,  on  the  right  bank  by  the  Cossacks. 
It  is  true  that  the  latter,  at  the  decisive  moment,  refused  to 
fight ;  it  needed  the  prayers  of  Abraham  Palitsyne  to  bring  them 
into  line,  and  the  intervention  of  Minine  and  his  troops  to  de- 
cide the  victory.  The  Polish  garrison  of  the  Kremlin  were  then 
pressed  so  close  that  they  were  reduced  to  eat  human  flesh. 
They  capitulated,  on  condition  that  they  were  to  have  their  lives. 
They  gave  up  their  prisoners,  among  whom  was  young  Michael 
Romanof. 

The  Kremlin  and  the  Kita'i-gorod  had  opened  their  gates, 
when  men  learned  that  Sigismond  was  advancing  to  the  help  of 
the  Polish  garrison.     It  was  too  late.     At  the  news  of  these 


Michael  I. 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


253 


events  he  had  to  retrace  his  steps ;  the  devotion  of  the  people 
of  Russia  had  freed  their  country.  This  year  of  16 12  remained 
for  \ox\z  in  the  memorv  of  the  nation  ;  and  when  the  invasion  of 
18 1 2  came  to  refresh  their  recollections,  they  raised  on  the  Red 
Place  a  colossal  monument  to  the  two  liberators,  the  butcher 
Minine  and  the  Prince  Pojarski. 

Russia,  once  more  herself,  could  proceed  freely  to  the  election 
of  a  Tzar.  A  great  National  Assembly  gathered  at  Moscow. 
It  was  composed  of  the  great  ecclesiastical  dignitaries,  of  dele- 
gates nominated  by  the  nobles,  by  the  dic'ti-boyarskie\  the  mer- 
chants, the  towns  and  districts.  The  delegates  had  to  be  fur- 
nished with  special  powers.  They  all  agreed  they  would  have 
no  stranger,  neither  Pole  nor  Swede.  When  it  became  a  ques- 
tion of  choosing  among  the  Russians,  scheming  and  rivalry 
commenced ;  but  one  name  was  pronounced  which  gained  all 
the  votes,  that  of  Michael  Romanof.  He  was  elected  not  for 
his  own  sake,  for  he  was  only  fifteen  years  old,  but  for  that  of 
his  ancestors  the  Romanofs,  and  his  father,  the  Metropolitan 
Philarete,  then  prisoner  at  Marienburg.  The  name  of  Romanof, 
of  the  kin  of  Ivan  IV.,  was  the  highest  expression  of  the  national 
feeling  (1613). 

The  new  dynasty  had  better  chances  of  stability  than  that  of 
Godounof  or  that  of  Chouiski.  There  were  no  crimes  to  reproach 
it  with  ;  it  had  its  origin  in  a  national  movement,  it  dated  from 
the  liberation,  and  had  only  glorious  memories.  No  phantom,  no 
recollection,  no  regret  of  the  past,  stood  before  it.  The  house 
of  Ivan  the  Terrible  had  been  the  cause  or  the  occasion  of  too 
much  suffering  to  Russia;  the  false  Dmitris  had  stitied  the  re- 
grets for  the  true.  The  accession  of  the  Romanofs  coincided 
with  a  powerful  awakening  of  patriotism,  with  the  passion  for 
unity,  with  universal  longing  for  order  and  peace.  Already 
they  inspired  the  same  devotion  as  the  oldest  dynasty.  It  is 
said  that  tlie  Poles,  on  hearing  of  the  election  of  Michael,  sent 
armed  men  to  seize  him  in  Kostroma.  A  peasant,  Ivan  Sous- 
sanine,  misled  the  Poles  through  deep  woods  in  the  darkness 
of  the  night,  and  died  under  their  blows.  This  is  the  subject 
of  the  beautiful  opera  by  Glinka,  of  '  Life  for  the  Tzar.'  The 
time  of  troubles  had  ended. 


254 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

THE    ROMANOFS  :    MICHAEL    FEODOROVITCH   AND    THE   PATRIARCH 

PHILARETE    (1613-1645). 

Restorative  measures — End  of  the  Polish  war — Relations  with  Europe — The 

States-general. 


RESTORATIVE  MEASURES — END  OF  THE  POLISH  WAR. 

Russia  had  at  last  a  sovereign,  but  she  was  in  the  situation 
in  which  Henry  IV.  found  France  at  his  accession.  The  great 
civil  and  foreign  war  was  finished,  but  it  had  left  everywhere  its 
evil  traces.  Henry  IV.,  when  he  became  king,  had  been  obliged 
to  reconquer  all  his  kingdom,  province  by  province,  town  by 
town,  half  by  arms  and  half  by  negotiations,  to  win  it  from 
chiefs  of  the  bands,  leaguers,  great  governors  who  had  become 
independent,  and  foreigners.  In  the  same  way,  in  Russia,  Zar- 
outski,  leader  of  the  Don  Cossacks,  ruled  in  Astrakhan,  with 
Marina  and  the  son  she  had  borne  to  the  brigand  of  Touchino  ; 
the  Polish  partisan  Lissovski  ravaged  the  country  of  the  south- 
west ;  the  Zaporogian  Cossacks  infested  the  regions  of  the  Dwina: 
scarce  a  province  but  was  a  prey  to  some  robber-band.  No  doubt 
the  Poles  had  been  expelled  from  the  Kremlin  as  the  Spaniards 
were  expelled  from  reconquered  Paris,  but  an  offensive  move- 
ment of  the  enemy  might  be  expected  ;  moreover  they  still 
retained  many  places,  notably  the  important  town  of  Smolensk, 
Sweden  had  profited  by  the  state  of  Russia  to  lay  hands  on  the 
cities  of  Carelia  and  on  Novgorod  the  Great.  In  the  interior  of 
the  country,  the  towns  and  cities  were  in  ruins,  the  population 
diminished  and  impoverished,  and  brigandage  had  become  a 
habit.  At  the  Court,  the  Russian  lords  had  learned  to  disobey, 
and  were  not  less  turbulent  than  the  Leaguers  who  surrounded 
Henry  IV.     What  Russia  needed  was  a  reign  of  restoration. 

Michael  Romanof  had  not  the  genius  of  the  restorer  of 
France.  He  was  almost  a  child,  and  the  boyards  turned  his  au- 
thority against  himself :  the  silent  and  bloody  intrigues  that  Ivan 
IV.  had  only  restrained  by  capital  punishment  broke  forth  again, 


NIS  TOR  Y  OF  K  USSTA.  255 

and  the  ferocious  depravity  of  the  nobles  was  the  shame  of  Russia. 
Quiet  men  and  foreigners  regretted  Ivan  the  Terrible.  '•  Oh 
that  God  would  open  the  eyes  of  the  Tzar  as  he  opened  those 
of  Ivan  ! "  wrote  a  Dutchman  at  this  time,  "  otherwise  Muscovy 
is  lost."  Happily  the  good  will  of  the  nation  was  equal  to  every 
emergency.  The  day  of  the  coronation  the  men-at-arms  pre- 
sented a  request  for  pay,  as  their  devastated  fiefs  no  longer  gave 
them  any  revenue.  The  Tzar  and  the  clergy  sent  letters  to  the 
Russian  towns  to  entreat  them  to  help  the  State  to  pay  the  troops, 
and  to  aid  her  with  men  and  money  against  the  foes  within  and 
without.  Zaroutski  was  the  first  who  was  attacked.  The  inhab- 
itants of  Astrakhan,  outraged  by  his  barbarities,  had  rebelled 
and  imprisoned  him  in  the  Kremlin,  whence  he  attempted  to 
escape  at  the  approach  of  the  Russian  voievodes.  He  was  capt- 
ured, and  condemned  to  be  impaled ;  the  son  of  the  brigand  of 
Touchino,  in  spite  of  his  youth,  was  hung,  and  his  mother,  Marina 
the  Pole,  died  in  prison.  By  the  advice  of  the  clergy  and  the 
boyards,  the  Tzar  tried  to  negotiate  with  Baloven,  another  brig- 
and chief,  who,  by  way  of  answer,  attacked  Moscow,  but  w^as 
defeated  and  his  band  destroyed.  Th.e  people  of  the  Dwina 
themselves  executed  justice  on  the  Zaporogues.  Lissovski  was 
eagerly  pursued  by  Pojarski,  but  this  clever  partisan  outwitted 
all  the  efforts  of  the  liberator.  Peace  with  Poland  had  to  be 
concluded  before  he  could  be  quieted. 

In  16 15  a  Congress  assembled  beneath  the  walls  of  Smolensk 
under  the  mediation  of  Erasmus  Handel ius,  envoy  of  the 
Emperor  of  Germany.  It  was  impossible  to  come  to  an  under- 
standing: the  Poles  refused  to  admit  the  election  of  Michael 
Romanof,  and  wished  to  recognize  Vladislas  as  Tzar  of  Russia. 
"  You  might  as  well,"  said  Handelius,  "try  to  reconcile  fire  and 
water.''  The  negotiations  were  broken  off.  With  Sweden,  how- 
ever, they  were  more  successful ;  here  the  mediators,  England 
and  Holland,  showed  more  zeal  and  energy  than  the  house  of 
Austria  had  done.  The  troubles  and  the  impoverished  state  of 
Muscovy  reacted  on  their  commerce.  By  pacifying  the  North, 
they  hoped  to  re-open  Russia  to  their  merchants,'  and  secure  for 
themselves  greater  advantages. 

In  May  1614,  Ouchakof  and  Zaborovski  had  been  sent  to  ask 
help  from  Holland  in  men  and  money.  The  Dutch  gave  them 
a  thousand  gulden,  but  said  that  they  had  themselves  only 
lately  ended  a  great  war,  that  they  could  give  the  Tzar  no 
substantial  aid,  but  would  do  their  utmost  to  induce  the  King  of 
Sweden  to  make  peace.  Alexis  Ziousine  had  been  despatched 
to  London  in  June  1613  ;  he  was  ordered  to  narrate  all  the  ex- 
cesses committed  by  the   Poles  in  Moscow,  and  to  say  to  King 


2^6  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

James,  "  After  the  destruction  of  Moscow,  the  Lithuanians  selz:ed 
your  merchants — Mark  the  F>ngHshman,  and  all  the  others — ■ 
took  away  all  their  wares,  subjected  them  to  a  rigorous  imprison- 
ment, and  ended  by  massacring  them."  If  by  chance  he  dis- 
covered that  the  Enolish  were  aware  that  it  was  not  the  Poles, 
but  the  Cossacks  and  the  lower  classes  who  had  put  Mark  to 
death  and  seized  on  the  merchandise,  he  was  to  have  other  ex- 
cuses ready.  The  Tzar  entreated  help  in  money  to  pay  the  men- 
at-arms,  and  not  in  soldiers,  as  he  could  give  them  no  pay. 
They  would  think  themselves  happy  if  the  King  of  England 
would  send  the  Tzar  money,  provisions,  powder,  lead,  sulphur, 
and  other  munitions,  to  the  value  of  about  100,000  roubles  ;  but 
would  content  themselves  with  70,000  roubles'  worth,  or  in  case 
of  absolute  necessity  with  50,000.  James  received  the  envoy 
and  his  suite  courteously,  informed  them  that  he  was  aware  of 
the  wrongs  the  Poles  and  the  Swedes  had  inflicted  on  them,  and 
ordered  them  three  times  following  to  cover  themselves.  The 
Russians  declined  to  do  this.  "  When  we  see  thy  fraternal  love 
and  lively  friendship  for  our  sovereign,  when  we  hear  thy  royal 
words  which  glorify  our  prince,  and  contemplate  thine  eyes  thus 
close  at  hand,  how  can  we,  kholopys  as  we  are,  put  our  hats  on 
our  heads  at  such  a  moment  t  "  In  August  1614,  the  year  follow- 
ing this  embassy,  there  appeared  at  Moscow  John  Merrick,  who 
had  for  long  traded  with  the  holy  city,  but  who  came  this  time 
as  ambassador  from  James  I.,  qualified  with  full  powers,  as 
prince,  knight,  and  gentleman  of  the  bedchamber.  In  an  inter- 
view with  Prince  Ivan  Kourakine  he  began  by  demanding,  on 
the  part  of  the  English  merchants,  a  direct  communication  with 
India  by  the  Obi,  and  with  Persia  by  the  Volga  and  Astrakhan. 
Kourakine  alleged  that  this  route  was  unsafe,  that  Astrakhan 
had  only  lately  been  delivered  from  Zaroutski,  and  that  numerous 
brigands  still  infested  the  A'^olga.  When  security  should  be 
established,  they  would  open  the  question  with  King  James. 
They  then  passed  to  the  subject  of  mediation.  John  Merrick 
declared  that  the  King  of  England  had  assembled  his  Parliament 
to  consider  the  best  means  of  helping  the  Tzar,  but  that  the 
Parliament  had  as  yet  decided  nothing,  and  that  he  had  no  in- 
structions on  this  head.  "  But,"  said  Kourakine,  "  can  you  not 
assure  us  that  your  sovereign  will  send  us  help  in  the  spring .'' " 
"  How  can  I  guarantee  it  ?    The  journey  is  long,  and  there  is  no 

way  save  that  by  Sweden I  believe,  however,  he  will  give 

you  aid."  Merrick,  having  contented  himself  with  causing  the 
Russians  to  hope,  returned  to  commercial  matters :  liberty  of 
trade  by  the  Obi  and  the  Volga,  concessions  of  iron  and  jet 
mines  on  the  Soukhona,  concessions  of  territory  about  Vologda, 


HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  US  SI  A.  257 

for  new  establishments,  &:c.  The  Russian  boyards  continued  to 
expatiate  on  the  difficulty  of  the  situation,  and  John  Merrick  went 
10  Novgorod  to  negotiate  with  the  Swedes,  where  he  was  joined 
by  the  envoys  of  Holland.  Gustavus  Adolphus,  King  of  Sweden, 
JKid  obtained  some  successes  over  the  voievodes,  but  he  had  not 
vontented  the  Novgorodians,  nor  been  able  to  take  Pskof.  The 
kings  of  Denmark  and  Poland  were  his  enemies,  and  he  may 
iiave  felt  a  presentiment  of  ihe  splendid  career  ihat  awaited  hini 
in  Germany.  He  consented  to  open  a  congress,  and  in  1617 
concluded  with  Russia  the  Peace  of  Stolbovo,  by  which  he  re 
ceived  an  indemnity  of  20,000  roubles,  and  kept  Ivangorod,  lam 
Koporie',  and  Ore'chek  (Schliisselburg),  but  ceded  Novgorod, 
Roussa,  Ladoga,  and  some  smaller  places. 

Russia  was  now  able  to  concentrate  all  her  forces  against  hei 
worst  enemy — the  instigator  of  all  her  troubles.  The  Poles  took 
the  offensive,  under  the  command  of  Vladislas  and  the  hetman 
Khodkevitch.  Dorogobouge  and  Viasma  were  surrendered  by 
the  treachery  or  weakness  of  their  voievodes  ;  but  Mojaisk  and 
Kalouga  (which  was  defended  by  Pojarski)  resisted  and  arrested 
the  progress  of  the  enemy,  Vladislas,  who  had  all  the  instincts 
of  a  soldier,  resolved  in  16 18  to  march  on  Moscow.  Michael 
Romanof  dreaded  treason  more  than  the  arms  of  the  enemy, 
and  determined  to  exact  a  new  oath  of  allegiance  from  his  sub- 
jects. He  assembled  the  Estates,  and  informed  them  that  he 
was  ready  once  more  to  suffer  hunger  in  besieged  Moscow,  and 
to  %ht  Lithuania,  but  he  asked  in  return  that  the  nobles  should 
do  as  much  for  him,  and  that  they  should  resist  the  seductions 
of  "the  king's  son."  Everyone  made  the  required  promise,  and 
fresh  letters  went  out  from  Moscow,  calling  all  the  towns  to  a 
holy  war.  Vladislas,  however,  had  stopped  at  Touchino,  where 
the  hetman  of  Little  Russia,  after  having  ravaged  the  frontiers  of 
the  south-west,  had  joined  him  with  his  Cossacks.  The  davs  of 
the  second  impostor  and  of  Touchinism  seemed  to  ha\e  come 
back.  The  Poles  having  been  defeated  in  an  attack  on  Moscow 
proposed  a  congress,  which  met  at  Devulino,  not  far  from  the 
Troitsa  monastery,  lately  the  victim  of  a  new  siege.  A  truce  of 
fourteen  years  and  six  months  was  agreed  on.  Poland  kept 
Smolensk  and  Severia,  and  Vladislas  did  not  even  renounce  the 
title  of  Tzar  of  Russia,  leaving  this  difficulty  to  be  solved  by  the 
judgment  of  God.  Such  a  peace  was  only  an  armistice  (1618)  ; 
there  was,  however,  an  exchange  of  prisoners  :  the  brave  voie- 
vode  Chein  and  the  Metropolitan  Philarete  returned  to  Russia, 
and  the  latter  was  at  once  made  Patriarch. 

By  the  return  of  his   father  the  young  Tzar  obtained   the 
counsellor  his  inexperience  had  hitherto  needed,  and  even  more 


258  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

than  a  counsellor — a  colleague,  and  almost  a  master.  Philaretft 
was  in  some  sort  associated  with  the  throne.  The  empire  had 
two  chief  nobles,  two  sovereigns,  the  Tzar  of  all  the  Russias 
and  the  Patriarch  of  all  the  Russias.  They  figured  together 
in  all  public  acts,  and  together  received  the  reports  of  the  boy- 
ards  and  foreign  ambassadors.  It  was  time  that  a  master  was 
given  to  the  boyards.  The  Soltykofs,  Michael's  favorites,  had 
distributed  the  empire  among  their  partisans,  and  plundered 
the  treasury  and  the  nation.  They  were  charged  with  having 
falsely  accused  Michael's  first  bride,  who  was  expelled  from  the 
palace,  and  having  poisoned  the  second.  This  was  a  common 
practice  with  the  nobles  of  Muscovy,  those  who  were  in  favor 
fearing  a  new  Tzarina  above  everything.  They  shrank  from  no 
means  of  removing  her  from  their  path  ;  and  their  reputation  on 
this  head  was  so  firmly  established  that  the  King  of  Denmark 
had  refused  Michael  the  hand  of  his  niece,  because,  "in  the 
reign  of  Boris  Godounof,  his  \)XO\\\^x,  fiance  oi  the  Princess  Xenia, 
had  been  poisoned ;  and  this  would  also  be  the  fate  of  this 
voung  girl."  Philarete  made  the  boyards  feel  the  weight  of  the 
Tzar's  hand,  and  exiled  the  most  guilty. 


RELATIONS   WITH    EUROPE — THE   STATES-GENERAL. 

Russia  had  begun  at  last  to  be  a  European  nation.  Every- 
where her  political  or  commercial  alliance  was  sought.  Gustavus 
Adolphus,  who  was  making  preparations  to  play  his  part  as  the 
champion  of  Protestantism  in  Germany,  wished  to  assure  him- 
self of  the  friendship  of  Russia  against  Poland.  He  represented 
to  Michael,  with  much  truth,  that  the  Catholic  League  of  the 
Pope,  the  King  of  Poland,  and  the  house  of  Hapsburg  were  as 
dangerous  to  Russia  as  to  Sweden  ;  that  if  Protestantism  suc- 
cumbed it  would  be  the  turn  of  orthodoxy,  and  that  the  Swedish 
army  was  the  outpost  of  Russian  security.  "  When  your  neigh- 
bor's house  is  on  fire,"  writes  the  King,  "you  must  bring  water 
and  try  to  extinguish  it,  to  guarantee  your  own  safety.  May 
your  Tzarian  majesty  help  your  neiglibors  to  protect  yourself." 
The  terrible  events  of  late  years  had  only  too  well  justified 
these  remarks.  The  intrigues  of  the  Jesuits  with  the  false 
Dmitri,  and  the  burning  of  Moscow  by  the  Poles,  were  always 
present  to  the  memory  of  the  Russians.  A  treaty  of  peace  and 
commerce  was  concluded  with  Sweden,  and  a  Swedish  ambas- 
sador aj^pearcd  at  the  Court. 

pjTirland  had  rendered  more  than  one  service  to  Russia.  In 
her  pressing  need  James   I.  had  lent  her  20,000  roubles,   and 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


259 


British  mediation  had  led  to  the  Peace  of  Stolbovo.  John  Mer- 
rick considered  he  had  the  right  to  demand  tliat  Russia  should 
open  to  English  commerce  the  route  to  Persia  by  the  Volga, 
and  to  Hindostan  by  Siberia.  The  Tzar  consulted  the  merch- 
ants of  Moscow.  They  unanimously  replied  that  such  a  con- 
cession would  be  their  ruin,  for  they  could  never  hope  to  rival 
the  wealthier  and  more  enterprising  English.  They  were,  how- 
ever, ready  to  sacrifice  their  interests  to  those  of  the  empire,  if 
the  dues  paid  by  the  foreigners  were  essential  to  the  treasury. 
John  Merrick  declined  to  pay  any  dues,  and  the  negotiation  was 
broken  off.  They  paid  him,  however,  the  20,000  roubles,  as  he 
assured  them  the  King  had  need  of  them  for  the  help  of  his  son- 
in-law,  the  Elector  Palatine. 

Tn  1615  the  Tzar  sent  an  envoy  into  France,  to  announce  to 
Louis  XIII.  his  accession  to  the  throne,  and  to  ask  his  aid 
against  Poland  and  Sweden.  In  1629  there  appeared  at  Mos- 
cow the  ambassador  Duguay  Cormenin,  who  was  commissioned 
to  solicit  for  French  commerce  what  had  been  refused  to  Eng- 
lish trade — free  passage  into  Persia.  He  also  spoke  of  a  politi- 
cal alliance.  "  His  Tzarian  majesty,"  he  said,  "  is  the  head  of 
Eastern  countries  and  the  orthodox  faith  ;  Louis,  King  of  France, 
is  the  head  of  Southern  countries;  and  the  Tzar,  by  contracting 
a  friendship  and  alliance  with  him,  will  get  the  better  of  his 
enemies.  As  the  Emperor  is  closely  allied  to  the  King  of  Po- 
land, the  Tzar  must  be  allied  to  the  King  of  France.  These  two 
princes  are  everywhere  glorious ;  they  have  no  equals  either  in 
strength  or  power;  their  subjects  obey  them  blindly,  while  the 
English  and  Braban^-ons  are  only  obedient  when  they  choose. 
The  latter  buy  their  wares  in  Spain,  and  sell  them  to  the  Rus- 
sian,s  at  a  high  price,  but  the  French  will  furnish  them  with 
everything  at  a  reasonable  rate."  This  negotiation  for  the  first 
Franco-Russian  treaty  spoken  of  in  history  had  no  result.  As 
to  the  route  to  Persia,  it  was  refused  by  the  boyards,  who  said 
that  the  French  might  buy  the  Persian  merchandise  from  the 
Russians. 

Another  ally  against  Poland  offered  itself  to  Muscovy.  Tne 
Sultan  Osman  sent  to  Moscow  the  Prince  Thomas  Cantacuzene, 
to  announce  that  Turkey  had  already  declared  war  against  the 
king.  The  T^ussians  asked  no  more  than  to  help  him,  and  Phil- 
arete  and  Michael  assembled  the  Slates-general.  The  deputies 
"  beat  their  foreheads  "  to  the  sovereigns,  beseeching  them  to 
"  hold  themselves  firm  for  the  holy  churches  of  God,  for  their 
Tzarian  honor,  and  for  their  own  country  against  the  enemy. 
The  men-at-arms  were  ready  to  fight,  and  the  merchants  to  give 
money."     The  troops  were  already  assembling  when  news  was 


26o  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

received  that  Turkey  had  been  defeated,  and  war  was  post- 
poned. The  preparations  had  revealed  certain  faults  existing 
in  the  national  army,  and  it  was  decided  to  enlist  foreign  iner- 
cenaries,  and  instruct  the  native  soldiers  in  Western  tactics. 
Orders  were  accordingly  given  to  buy  arms,  and  to  attract  into 
Russia  gun-founders  and  artillerymen.  Tne  Russia  of  Michael 
and  Philarete  already  announced  the  Russia  of  Peter  the  Great ; 
the  era  of  reform  had  begun.  Each  day  Muscovy  strengthened 
herself  against  her  European  enemies,  by  turning  against  them 
the  weapon  of  their  own  civilization. 

She  remained  quiet  for  eight  years.  In  1632  Sigismond  III. 
died,  and  the  Elective  Diet  assembled  at  Warsaw.  Michael 
was  determined  not  to  let  this  opportunity  slip,  and  the  second 
war  with  Poland  began.  It  did  not  turn  out  as  well  as  had  been 
hoped.  The  vices  of  the  old  organization  and  institutions 
showed  themselves  anew.  The  two  voievodes  commandinsr  the 
army  suddenly  became  possessed  with  the  old  mania  of  disput- 
ing precedence.  They  were  deprived  of  their  command,  and 
replaced  by  Chein  and  Ismailof,  who  crossed  the  frontier  with 
32,000  men  and  158  guns.  Twenty-three  towns  surrendered  to 
the  Muscovites,  but  Smolensk  held  out  for  eight  months,  and, 
just  as  it  showed  signs  of  capitulating,  the  Polish  army  under 
Vladislas,  now  King  of  Poland,  made  its  aiDpearance.  On  the 
rumor  of  a  Tatar  invasion  in  the  south,  part  of  the  Russian 
nobles  at  once  hastened  to  the  defence  of  their  own  lands,  and 
Chein,  thus  enfeebled,  was  attacked  by  the  king,  and  his  com- 
munications cut.  Famine  obliged  him  to  surrender  in  the  open 
field,  and  he  obtained  leave  to  retreat,  though  forced  to  abandon 
both  his  baggage  and  his  artillery.  His  only  fault  lay  in  not 
understanding  as  well  as  his  Western  adversaries  the  stratesfv 
of  modern  warfare.  He  was  only  guilty  of  being  a  Russian  of 
unreformed  Russia.  His  enemies,  however,  accused  him  of  trea- 
son in  a  council  of  war,  and  he  was  condemned  with  his  col- 
league to  be  beheaded.  Philarete  was  no  longer  there  to  force 
the  boyards  to  live  at  peace  with  each  other.  He  died  in  1633. 
Vladislas,  successful  at  Smolensk,  was  defeated  at  Bielaia,  and 
a  congress  was  held  on  the  Polianka.  The  conditions  of  the 
truce  of  Devulino  were  confirmed.  The  Russians  paid  20,000 
roubles,  and  Vladislas  renounced  all  claim  to  the  throne  of  Mos- 
cow, and  recognized  for  the  first  time  the  Tzarian  title. 

Shortly  after  there  arose  a  new  occasion  for  war.  In  spite 
of  the  treaties  of  peace  concluded  by  Poland  and  Russia  with 
Turkey,  the  Cossacks  of  the  Dnieper,  who  were  subjects  of  Po- 
land, and  the  Cossacks  of  the  Don,  who  were  subjects  of  Russia, 
Still  continued  to  fight  against  Islam.     To  them,  besides  being 


ins  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA.  2  6 1 

a  holy  war,  it  was  the  means  of  procuring  zipotms, — wide  trou- 
sers, of  a  beautiful  scarlet  cloth.  Determined  partisans  and 
pirates,  both  on  land  and  sea,  they  were  thorns  in  the  sides  of 
the  Khan  of  the  Crimea  and  the  Grand  Turk,  attacking  with 
their  light  boats  the  heavy  Ottoman  gall-eys,  and  insulting  the 
coasts  of  the  Bosphorus  and  Anatolia.  They  were  disavowed  by 
their  respective  governments,  and  were  the  subjects  of  perpetual 
recrimination  between  the  Porte  and  the  two  Slav  States.  They 
were  the  bri<jands  and  corsairs  of  Christianitv,  as  the  Tatars 
were  of  I  si  am  ism. 

In  1627,  4400  Cossacks  of  the  Don,  aided  by  1000  Zapo- 
rogues  of  the  Dnieper,  surprised  Azof,  and  offered  to  make  a  gift 
of  it  to  the  Tzar  of  Moscow.  The  acquisition  of  such  an  impor- 
tant place,  which  would  secure  the  command  of  the  mouth  of  the 
Don  and  access  to  the  Black  Sea,  was  very  tempting  to  Russia. 
Again  Michael  Romanof  assembled  his  Estates.  We  must  observe 
that  since  Ivan  IV.  first  assembled  them  the  meetings  had  become 
more  and  more  frequent.  The  parliamentary  history  of  Russia 
dates  from  the  reign  of  "  the  Terrible."  This  time  the  nobles 
declared  themselves  ready  to  fight  if  they  had  money  given  them 
for  their  equipment,  and  begged  the  Tzar  to  exact  it  from  the 
clergy  and  merchants.  The  latter  alleged  that  the  robberies  of 
the  public  functionaries,  the  prolongation  of  the  wars,  and  the 
rivalries  with  the  Germans  and  Persians,  had  ruined  them.  The 
officers  sent  by  the  Tzar  to  Azof  reported  that  it  was  in  too  bad 
a  state  for  defence.  In  fact  the  conquest  of  Azof,  like  that  of 
the  Crimea  in  the  time  of  Ivan,  was  premature,  Russian  coloni- 
zation not  having  as  yet  extended  itself  sufificiently  towards  the 
South.  The  Tzar  gave  orders  accordingly  to  the  Doittsi  for  its 
evacuation,  and  they  did  not  leave  one  stone  upon  another. 

Western  influence  made  considerable  progress  during  this 
reign.  The  merchants  entreated  that  access  into  the  interior 
might  be  forbidden  to  those  strangers  whose  rivalry  was  their 
ruin;  but  the  latter  were,  on  the  contrarv,  so  necessary  to  the 
State  and  to  the  general  progress  that  they  had  to  be  invited 
into  the  country  by  all  possible  means.  Under  Michael,  more 
foreigners  than  ever  came  into  Russia.  Vinius  the  Dutchman 
established  foundries  at  Toula  for  guns,  bullets,  and  other  iron 
weapons.  Marselein  the  German  opened  similar  ones  on  the 
Vaga,  the  Kostroma,  and  the  Cheksna.  Privileges  were  granted 
to  other  foreign  merchants  or  artisans,  and  the  only  condition 
imposed  on  them  was  not  to  conceal  the  secrets  of  their  indus- 
tries from  the  inhabitants  of  the  countries.  This  is  another 
point  of  resemblance  between  this  reign  of  reform  and  that  of 
Henri  IV.,  who  also  summoned  to  his  kingdom  Flemish,  Eng- 


262  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

lish,  and  Venetian  artisans.  One  European  import  did  not 
however,  find  favor  in  Russia — the  usage  of  tobacco  was  for' 
bidden,  and  snuff-takers  had  their  noses  cut  off. 

Learned  men  were  also  sought  from  Europe.  Adam  Olea- 
rius  of  Holstein,  a  celebrated  astronomer,  geographer,  and 
geometer,  was  invited  to  Moscow.  Already  the  Academy  of 
Sci-ences  of  Peter  the  Great  was  foreshadowed.  A  cosmographi- 
cal  treatise  was  translated  from  Latin  into  Russian.  The  Patri- 
arch Philarete  had  established  at  Moscow  an  academy  where 
Greek  and  Latin,  the  languages  of  the  Renaissance,  were  taught. 
The  Archimandrite  Dionysius  of  Troitsa,  who  had  distinguished 
himself  in  the  struggle  with  the  Poles,  undertook  to  correct  the 
text  of  the  Slavonian  books — a  hazardous  enterprise,  which  cost 
Dionysius  himself  a  short  period  of  persecution.  Native  histori- 
ans continued  to  re-edit  their  chronicles,  and  Abraham  Palit- 
syne,  cellarer  of  Troitsa,  narrated  the  famous  siege  of  the 
convent. 


eflSrOKY  OF  RUSSIA. 


2O5 


CHAPTER   XX. 

WESTERN   RUSSIA    IN   THE    I7rH   CENTURY. 

The  political  union  of  Lulilin  (1509),  and  tlie  religious  union  (1595) — Com- 
plaints of  White  Russia — Risings  in  Little  Russia. 


POLITICAL   UNION    OF    LUBLIN    (1509),    AND   THE    RELIGIOUS 

UNION    (1595). 

Spain  in  the  i6th  century  had  taken  a  large  share  in  the 
troubles  of  France  ;  France  in  the  17th  century  dismembered  the 
Spanish  Empire.  In  like  manner  Poland  expiated  her  jxart  in 
the  civil  wars  of  Russia.  After  the  reformins:  rei<rn  of  Michael 
Romanof,  his  son  Alexis  was  to  inaugurate  the  era  of  reprisals. 
Russia  had  almost  fallen  before  Poland,  like  France  before  Bur- 
gundy or  Austria,  but  she  grew  strong  at  Poland's  expense,  and 
on  the  ruins  of  Poland  founded  her  own  greatness.  A  glance  at 
the  constitution  of  the  Polish  Empire  will  show  us  what  internal 
difficulties  prepared  the  way  for  the  external  enemy — the  Mus- 
covite, the  Moskal,  as  he  was  called  by  the  men  of  the  West. 

White  Russia  and  Little  Russia  had  been  conquered  by  the 
Lithuanians,  and  formed  with  them  part  of  the  Polo-Lithuanian 
State.  They  kept  for  a  long  while  Russian  manners  and  habits. 
The  Russian  language  was  used  in  the  acts  of  legislation  till 
the  i6th,  and  even  till  the  17th  century.  For  a  short  time, 
under  the  early  Jagellons,  it  had  even  been  the  language  of  the 
Court.  Soon,  however,  Polish  influence  predominated  in  the 
ruling  class.  The  Russo-Lithuanian  nobility  were  divided,  like 
the  Polish  nobility,  \nio  magnates,  who  possessed  large  territories 
and  occupied  the  high  offices,  schliachtas  or  lesser  nobles,  who 
formed  the  retainers  and  almost  the  servants  of  the  magnates. 
The  military  class  assembled  in  the  diets  and  dit'tiucs.  The 
king's  officers  bore  the  titles  of  vo'ievodes,  castellans,  and  starosts. 
The  Russo-Lithuanian  towns,  like  those  of  Poland,  received 
what  was  called  "  the  law  of  Magdeburg."  They  were  governed 
by  a  vogt  of  the  king,  who  administered  justice,  assisted  by  the 
burgomaster  and  by  rathmiinncr.    The  trading  classes  organized 


264  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

themselves,  after  the  German  fashion,  into  ze'che^  tribes  or  cor- 
porations. 

Up  to  that  time  Russo-Lithuania  and  Poland  had  formed 
two  States,  distinct  in  law ;  and  at  the  extinction  of  the  Jagel- 
lons,  who  had  always  maintained  them  in  a  personal  union,  it 
was  feared  they  would  again  separate.  Ivan  IV.  founded  great 
hopes  on  this  expected  separation,  but  the  Poles  in  the  reign 
of  Sigismond  made  a  great  effort  to  accomplish  a  definite  union. 
A  diet  was  held  at  Lublin.  The  Russo-Lithuanian  aristocracy 
were  much  averse  to  the  union  ;  difference  of  religion,  national 
self-love,  and  corporate  interests  created  a  barrier  between  them 
and  Poland.  The  Government  shrank  from  no  means  of  over- 
coming their  resistance.  It  threatened  not  to  defend  Lithuania 
against  the  incursions  of  the  Tzar,  and  to  resume  the  Crown  lands 
held  by  the  refractory  nobles.  Notwithstanding,  the  Polish 
party  were  almost  checkmated  ;  rather  than  yield,  the  Lithuanian 
deputies  left  the  diet  in  a  body.  At  last  the  king  contrived  to 
gain  two  of  the  most  influential  members — Constantine  Ostrojski, 
voievode  of  Kief,  and  Alexander  Czartoryski,  voievode  of  Vol- 
hynia.  Nicholas  Radziwill,  who  had  so  long  held  the  Polish 
tendencies  in  check,  and  who  was  the  last  representative  of  in- 
dependent Lithuania,  was  dead.  The  king  managed  also  to  win 
over  the  Little  Russian  nobility,  less  hostile  to  Catholic  Poland 
than  the  Protestant  nobility  of  Lithuania.  The  Union  of  Lublin 
provided  that  the  two  crowns  should  be  united  on  the  same 
head,  with  equal  rights ;  that  there  should  be  only  one  general 
diet  and  one  senate  ;  that  they  should  sit  at  Warsaw,  a  Mazo- 
vian  town,  which  was  to  become  the  capital  of  the  new  State; 
and  that  Poland  and  Lithuania  should  preserve  each  its  great  dig- 
nitaries— chancellor,  vice-chancellor,  marshals,  and  hetmans — 
their  own  army  and  their  laws.  The  Russian  countries,  prop- 
erly so  called,  underwent  a  fresh  dismemberment.  I^ittle  Russia 
was  specially  united  to  Poland. 

The  natural  result  of  the  Union  of  Lublin  was  the  growth 
of  Polish  inlluence  in  the  Russian  territory.  On  one  side,  the 
Polish  nobles  had  obtained  the  right  of  acquiring  lands  and 
holding  offices  in  Lithuania  ;  on  the  other,  the  Russian  nobility, 
Dy  mingling  more  completely  with  the  nobility  of  the  neighbor- 
ing country,  adopted  its  ideas,  habits,  fashions,  and  even  its 
language.  It  began  to  be  Polonizcd,  thus  widening  the  breach 
that  separated  it  from  the  masses  of  the  people,  profoundly  at- 
tached to  their  tongue  and  their  nationality.  The  division  be- 
tween the  aristocracy  and  the  people  increased  still  further,  when 
the  Catholic  propaganda  iDenetrated  among  the  nobility  of  the 
Kussian  territory. 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA.  265 

A  special  article  of  the  Union  of  Lublin  ensured  respect  to 
the  ortliodox  religion.  Poland  and  Lithuania  had  not,  however, 
been  able  to  escape  from  the  great  religious  struggles  that  then 
divided  Western  Europe,  and  which  sent  a  wave  even  into  Po 
land.  A  certain  number  of  lords  had  embraced  Protestantism 
(Lutheranism,  Calvinism,  and  Socinianism).  The  Jesuits,  who 
were  everywhere  at  the  head  of  the  reaction  against  reform,  and 
rtliose  hand  may  be  traced  in  all  the  civil  wars  of  the  i6th  and 
17th  centuries,  soon  made  their  appearance  in  Poland.  Prot- 
estantism only  took  a  feeble  root  in  the  countrv,  and  did  not 
occupy  them. long  ;  they  then  turned  their  attention  to  orthodoxy, 
the  real  national  religion  of  the  Russo-Lithuanian  provinces. 
They  employed  the  same  means  by  which  they  had  hitherto 
succeeded  everywhere  in  Europe  :  founded  colleges,  obtained  a 
hold  on  the  young  people,  insinuated  themselves  into  the'  con- 
fidence of  the  women,  gained  the  ear  of  the  kings,  and  reckoned 
yet  more  surely  on  theit  worldly  cleverness  than  on  the  purely 
ecclesiastical  means  of  preaching,  confession,  and  pilgrimages. 
The  brave  Batory,  who  specuiUy  occupied  himself  with  all  that 
concerned  the  public  peace  ai.d  national  greatness,  kept  them 
at  a  distance.  They  found  a  m.march  more  to  their  taste  in 
Sigismond  IIL,  a  feeble  copy  of  'he  Philips  of  Spain  and  the 
Eerdinands  of  Austria,  and  well  fried  to  draw  on  the  East  the 
calamities  that  desolated  Germany  ai.l  the  West.  He  protected 
the  Jesuits,  and  exhausted  all  the  influence  and  seductions  that 
the  throne  put  at  his  disposal,  to  convft  the  orthodox  nobility 
of  his  oriental  provinces  to  Catholicism  In  order  to  enlarge 
the  field  of  conversions,  the  Jesuits  inv  ^nted  a  compromise, 
which  was  to  obtain  from  the  Russian  cle^  -^y  and  people  their 
submission  to  the  Holy  See,  while  their  Slavonic  liturgy  and 
special  usages  were  guaranteed  them  ;  this  is  what  is  called  the 
Union  of  the  two  Churches.  In  fact,  the  wiioti  once  obtained, 
they  thought  it  but  a  step  to  unity,  and  even  uniformity.  Peter 
Skarga  the  Jesuit,  who  published  the  book  of  'The  Unity  of  the 
Church  of  God,'  wished  to  exclude  the  teaching  -\i  Slavonic, 
and  only  admit  that  of  Greek  and  Latin.  In  order  to  make 
their  plan  more  easily  accepted  by  Government,  they  represented 
to  it  that  the  effect  of  their  religious  "  union  "  wouid  be  con- 
solidation of  the  political  union  of  Lublin,  and  that  a  true  Polish 
Estate  would  not  exist  till  the  subjects  held  the  same  faith  as 
their  prince. 

Now  orthodoxy,  menaced  by  the  King  of  Poland,  found  a 
powerful  support  in  the  Russian  princes  descended  from  Rurik 
and  Gediniin.  We  have  seen  Prince  Kourbski,  in  the  time  of 
Ivan  IV.,  and    later,  Constantine   Ostrojski,  defend    by   their 


266  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

pen,  their  word  and  their  influence,  the  faith  of  their  fathers,  and 
translate,  compile,  and  disseminate  books  in  favor  of  orthodoxy. 
Little  by  little  the  nobles  yielded  to  the  influence  of  the  Court  ; 
in  their  struggle  with  the  Roman  religion,  the  people  saw  them- 
selves abandoned  almost  entirely  by  their  natural  chiefs,  and 
even  by  their  bishops.  The  king  filled  the  Lithuanian  sees 
with  prelates  who  were  great  princes,  wholly  indiffeient  to  theo- 
logical questions,  and  proud  of  their  immense  riches,  of  their 
numerous  villages,  and  their  strong  castles  bristling  with  artillery. 
Still  the  people  did  not  give  up  all  hope.  From  Novgorod  the 
Great,  from  Pskof,  from  Germany,  the  principle  of  association 
had  spread  widely  among  the  cities  of  Western  Russia.  Socie- 
ties were  formed  for  mutual  assistance,  which  had  their  roots  in 
the  most  distant  Slavonic,  German,  or  Scandinavian  past ;  they 
were  at  the  same  time  religious  confraternities,  and  took  an 
energetic  part  in  the  strife  with  the  Jesuits.  They  had  their 
elected  chiefs,  their  common  treasury,  and  they  began  to  found 
schools,  to  set  up  printing-presses,  and  to  disseminate  polemical 
or  pious  books.  They  entered  into  mutual  relations,  and  formed 
ties  with  the  patriarchs  of  the  East ;  to  the  royal  bishops  they 
opposed  a  democratic  force,  watching  them,  reprimanding  them, 
and  denouncing  the  carelessness  of  their  religion  or  manners  to 
orthodox  Christendom.  The  most  celebrated  of  these  confra- 
ternities were  those  of  Lemberg  in  Gallicia,  of  Wilna  in  Lithua- 
nia, and  of  Loutsk  in  Volhynia  ;  that  of  Kief  founded  the  great 
ecclesiastical  academy  of  Little  Russia. 

Under  the  stimulus  of  these  popular  sof~ieties,  the  bishops 
could  no  longer  remain  indifferent.  It  was  necessary  to  take  up 
a  position  at  the  head  of  the  believers,  or  pass  over  to  the  ranks 
of  the  enemy.  The  orthodox  prelates  were  in  a  very  difficult 
position  ;  they  were  in  disgrace  with  the  Government  as  the  de- 
fenders of  orthodoxy,  and  at  the  same  time  were  harassed  as 
lukewarm  by  the  orthodox  demagogy.  Terletski,  Bishop  of 
Loutsk,  was  in  this  trying  situation — the  starost  of  Loutsk,  a 
convert  to  Catholicism,  directed  a  fierce  persecution  against  his 
ancient  bishop.  Terletski  was  taken,  imprisoned,  and  starved 
in  his  dungeon  ;  he  complained,  but  an  orthodox  bishop  could 
expect  no  justice.  He  saw  only  one  means  of  escaping  from 
this  humiliation,  to  disarm  the  violence  of  the  Catholic  nobles, 
and  to  enjoy  in  peace  his  episcopal  revenues  :  this  was  to  pass 
over  to  the  Union.  His  neighbor,  Ignatius  Potiei,  Bishop  of 
Vladimir  in  Volhynia,  and  Michael  Ragoza,  Metropolitan  of 
Kief,  Primate  of  Western  Russia,  who  was  discontented  with  the 
Patriarch  of  Constantinople,  followed  his  example.  Sigismond 
III.  received  these  first  defections  with  joy ;  Terletski  and  Potiei' 


HIS  rOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA.  267 

left  for  Rome  ;  and  placed  the  Russian  Church  at  the  feet  of 
Clement  VIII.  The  Pope  celebrated  this  success  by  pompous 
solemniiies(i595) ,  but  tlie  projected  union  could  not  be  realized 
without  the  consent  of  all  the  Russian  bishops,  of  whom  only- 
three,  the  Metropolitan  and  the  two  Volhynians,  were  as  yet 
gained  over.  Balaba,  Bishop  of  Lemberg — who,  although  he 
was  always  at  war  with  the  confraternity,  had  not  sacrificed  the 
national  cause  to  his  private  enmity — remained  with  a  layman, 
Constantine  Ostrojski,  the  soul  of  orthodoxy.  A  council  was 
held  at  Brest,  in  Lithuania  (1596),  under  the  presidency  of  Ni- 
cephorus,  envoy  of  the  Patriarch  of  Constantinople.  The  three 
dissidents  refused  to  attend.  Then  the  bishops  formulated  the 
anathema  and  the  sentence  of  deposition.  The  Uniates  hastened 
to  retaliate  by  an  excommunication,  but  their  attempt  in  favor 
of  the  cause  of  Rome  failed  piteously.  The  people  everywhere 
declared  against  them.  At  Wilna  Bishop  PotieT  was  assassi- 
nated by  the  citizens.  At  Vitepsk,  Bishop  Kountse'vitch,  who, 
from  a  renegade,  had  become  a  persecutor,  gave  occasion  for  a 
terrible  riot ;  he  was  stabbed  and  thrown  into  the  Dwina. 
Many  of  the  citizens  were  punished,  and  the  city  deprived  of 
"  the'  law  of  Magdeburg."  The  Uniates  fished  out  of  the 
Dwina  the  body  of  the  prelate,  and  his  tomb  shortly  became 
famous  for  its  reputed  miracles.  At  Kief,  Veniamine  Routski, 
a  successor  of  Ragoza,  re-organized  the  convents  on  the  model 
of  Latin  monasteries  :  the  monks  took  the  name  of  Basilians. 
They  did  not  gain  in  popularity.  A  Little  Russian  saying  at- 
tributes to  them  the  following  catechism  : — "  Wherefore  did 
God  create  thee  and  put  thee  in  the  world  ?  "  "  To  do  the 
seigneurs'  dirty  work." 

The  Eastern  Church  did  not  allow  itself  to  be  defeated  so 
easily  as  the  Jesuits  had  hoped.  It  opposed  schools  with 
schools,  propaganda  with  propaganda  ;  it  preached  and  it  printed. 
The  Uniate  Routski  w^as  replaced  even  at  Kief  by  Peter  Mohila, 
a  zealous  partisan  of  orthodoxy.  He  was  a  rough  prelate,  such 
as  was  needed  in  those  hard  times,  and  an  old  soldier,  ready  to 
meet  force  with  force.  A  monastery  of  the  diocese  resisted  his 
authority  ;  he  marched  to  it  instantly  with  troops  and  guns,  and 
chastised  the  rebels.  He  made  the  school  founded  by  the  con- 
fraternity into  a  college,  like  those  of  the  Jesuits;  instituted 
professors  of  Latin,  Greek,  and  philosophy,  and  made  it  the  in- 
tellectual centre  of  Western  Russia,  and  one  of  the  points  of  de- 
parture of  the  Russian  Renaissance  (1633). 


;  68  HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA. 


COMPLAINTS  OF  WHITE  RUSSIA — RISINGS  IN  LITTLE  RUSSIA. 

In  the  diets  of  Warsaw,  the  complaints  of  the  orthodox 
clergy,  and  of  the  country  people,  more  completely  enslaved, 
more  cruelly  oppressed  since  they  no  longer  held  the  religion  of 
their  masters,  did  not  remain  without  an  echo.  A  deputy  from 
Volhynia,  Lawrence  Drevninski,  exclaimed  at  the  Diet  of  1620  : 
"  When  your  Majesty  makes  war  on  Turkey,  from  whom  do  you 
obtain  the  greater  part  of  your  troops?  From  the  Russian  na- 
tion, which  holds  the  orthodox  faith  ;  from  that  nation  which,  if 
it  does  not  receive  relief  from  its  sufferings  and  an  answer  to  its 
prayers,  can  no  longer  continue  to  make  itself  a  rampart  for  your 
kingdom.  How  can  you  beg  it  to  sacrifice  all  to  secure  for  tlie 
country  the  blessings  of  peace,  when  in  its  homes  there  is  no 
peace  ?  Everyone  sees  clearly  the  persecutions  that  the  old 
Russian  nation  suffers  for  its  religion.  In  the  large  towns  our 
churches  are  sealed  up,  and  our  goods  are  pillaged ;  from  the 
monasteries  the  monks  have  departed,  and  cattle  are  shut  up  in 
them.  Children  die  without  baptism  ;  the  ashes  of  the  dead,  de- 
prived of  the  prayers  of  the  Church,  are  carried  out  of  the  city 
like  dead  beasts ;  men  and  women  live  together  without  the  ben- 
ediction of  the  priest ;  they  die  without  confession,  without  com- 
munion. Is  not  this  to  offend  God  himself,  and  will  not  God 
avenge  His  people  .?  At  Lemberg  no  one,  not  a  Uniate,  can  live 
in  the  city,  trade  freely,  and  enter  into  the  zeche  of  artisans.  .  .  . 
For  twenty  years  in  each  dietine^  in  each  diet,  Me  have  asked  for 
our  rights  and  liberties  with  bitter  tears,  and  for  twenty  years 
we  have  not  been  able  to  obtain  them.  We  shall  have  to  cry 
with  the  prophet,  '  O  God,  judge  me,  and  judge  my  actions.'  " 
The  situation  of  the  serfs  had  become  specially  intolerable  : 
to  the  Polish  or  Polonized  lord,  to  the  Latin  missionary,  was 
added  a  third  scourge,  the  Jew,  whom  the  noble  had  made  stew- 
ard of  his  lands,  and  to  whom  he  had  given  the  right  of  life 
and  death  over  his  subjects,  and  farmed  out  the  fisliing  and  hunt- 
ing, the  roads  and  taverns,  even  the  orthodox  Church,  so  com- 
pletely, that  the  peasant  could  neither  marry  nor  baptize  his 
child  without  having  bought  from  this  miscreant  the  access  to 
the  sanctuary. 

The  populations  of  White  Russia  had  suffered,  and  were 
still  to  suffer  long,  without  rebellion.  It  was  not  the  same  with 
the  Little  Russian  populations  of  the  Ukraine.  They  had 
colonized  the  steppes  of  the  south,  and  reconquered  the  desert 
from  the  Tatars.  To  attract  emigrants  to  fill  the  royal  grants, 
the  Polish  lords  offered  twenty  or  thirty  years  of  absolute  lib- 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


269 


erty.  Thanks  to  this,  the  desert  was  peopled  with  unheard-of 
rapidity,  and  on  this  virgin  soil  a  nation  was  formed,  ignorant  of 
slavery,  that  spoke  not  of  thirty  years'  liberty,  but  perpetual 
freedom.  The  King  of  Poland  favored  this  race  of  hardy 
pioneers — these  intrepid  soldiers.  The  Ukraine  was  for  him  a 
sort  of  military  frontier,  a  strong  rampart  for  Poland  against  the 
Tatar  and  the  Turk. 

These  warlike  populations  were  organized  in  twenty  polki 
of  Cossack — those  of  Pereiaslaf,  Tcherkask,  Mirgorod,  Pultowa, 
&c.  P^ach  polk  had  its  polkoi^nik  or  colonel  ;  all  obeyed  one 
supreme  chief,  the  hctfuan  of  Little  Russia  nominated  by  the 
king,  who  presided  over  the  starchina  *  or  council  of  elders.  In 
time  the  Cossacks  became  formidable  to  Poland  herself  ;  they 
incessantly  embroiled  her  with  her  formidable  neighbor,  the 
Ottoman  Empire.  Batory  was  forced  to  punish  with  death  more 
than  one  Cossack  chief  for  having  violated  a  truce  or  a  treaty 
of  peace,  and  he  also  limited  the  number  of  the  military  popula- 
tion, only  recognizing  as  Cossacks  those  who  were  inscribed  on 
the  register,  to  the  number  of  six  thousand,  condemning  the 
others  to  the  cultivation  of  the  soil ;  that  is,  to  serfage.  But  the 
Cossacks  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  cofvce  of  ihepa/is, 
nor  admit  the  limitations  of  the  king.  Notwithstandino;  the 
register,  they  remained  in  arms,  a  formidable  force,  who  in  the 
religious  struggle  were  all  enlisted  on  the  side  of  orthodoxy, 
and  wlio  caused  royalty  and  the  Uniate  hierarchy  and  aristocracy 
to  tremble. 

Besides  the  Cossacks  of  the  sedentary  populations  or  the 
Cossacks  of  the  towns,  there  were  also  the  Zaporogues  "beyond 
the  porogs  "  or  cataracts  of  the  Dnieper.  They  stood  in  the  same 
relation  to  the  Little  Russian  Cossacks  as  those  did  to  the  Russo- 
Lithuanian  population  ;  they  were  the  vanguard  of  the  vanguard, 
the  forlorn  hope  of  the  Russian  nationality.  Entrenched  in  the 
"  Large  Meadow,"  a  fortified  island  of  the  Dnieper,  they  had 
built  a  fort  or  sefcha  surrounded  by  a  palisade.  They  recoo^- 
nized  no  authority  ;  like  the  Knights  of  Rhodes  and  Malta, 
they  encamped  on  the  land  wrested  from  the  Mussulmans,  and 
continued  the  holy  war  with  Turk  and  Tatar,  when  Chris- 
tendom was  at  peace  with  him.  They  neither  gave  nor  asked 
quarter,  existed  on  the  plunder  of  the  infidel,  courted  dangers 
and  "  martyrdom,"  and  received  no  women  in  their  camp.  They 

*  The  starchina  was  composed  of  the  oboznyi.  the  licad  of  the  bac;j!;a£;e 
department  ;  of  the  judge  ;  of  the  pisar,  or  chancellor  ;  of  the  esaotil ;  of  the 
Stan,  lard-bearer  ;  of  the  folkorvniks  ;  of  the  stoniks,  or  centurions  ;  of  the 
atamans.  When  the  king  invested  the  hetman,  he  handed  to  him  the  bound' 
chotik  (or  banner),  like  a  horse's  tail,  the  stick  or  mace,  and  the  seal 


270  HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA. 

were  a  race  of  warrior-monks,  a  Church  militant,  the  Templars 
and  Hospitallers  of  the  Dnieper.  More  than  one  Polish  noble 
of  high  rank  came  to  join  them  in  their  life  of  adventure  and 
heroic  poverty,  and  learnt  from  them  lessons  of  courage  and 
chivalry.  All  were  equal,  all  brothers,  and  ate  like  the  Spartans 
at  a  common  table  ;  the  offices  of  the  ataman  of  the  cafnj),  and 
of  the  ten  atamans  of  the  koiirenes,  were  obtained  by  election. 
In  close  union  with  the  Cossacks  of  the  Don,  they  were  on  land 
and  sea  the  scourge  of  Islamism — the  Barbary  Christians  of 
the  Black  Sea. 

The  ill-feeling  betvv'een  the  aristocratic  government  of  Poland 
and  the  orthodox  population  of  Little  Russia  continued  to  in- 
crease. When  the  Polish  nobles  wished  to  treat  the  free  hus- 
bandmen as  serfs,  they  deserted  in  crowds  to  the  countries  of 
the  Ukraine  ;  the  boldest  went  to  reinforce  the  hordes  of  the 
Dnieper  Cossacks,  or  the  seic/ia  of  the  Zaporogues.  The  Kobzars 
(blind  bards)  hastened  from  village  to  village,  singing  the  song 
of  the  parvada  (justice)  :  "  In  this  world  there  is  no  justice, 
justice  is  not  to  be  found  here  ;  now  justice  lives  under  the  laws 
of  injustice.  To-day  justice  is  imprisoned  by  the  nobles  ;  in- 
justice is  seated  at  her  ease  by  the  pans  in  the  hall  of  honor. 
To-day  justice  stands  near  the  threshold,  and  injustice  is  throned 
with  \}ci^  pans,  and  hydromel  is  poured  out  into  cups  for  injustice. 
O  justice  !  our  mother  with  the  wings  of  an  eagle,  vshere  shall 
we  find  thee  ?  May  God  send  the  man  who  will  perform  justice 
— days  of  prosperity."  These  wandering  poets  sang  so  per- 
sistently, that  the  villages  were  emptied  for  the  benefit  of  the 
Cossack  camps,  and  justice  ended  by  spreading  her  "  eagle's 
wings,"  and  the  men  "  who  were  to  perform  justice  "  showed 
themselves  openly. 

The  orthodox  religion  persecuted  by  the  Uniates,  the  threat- 
ened serfage,  the  insolence  of  the  nobles,  the  robberies  of  the 
Jews,  the  register  and  its  limitation,  gave  rise  in  the  i6th  and 
17th  centuries  to  a  series  of  revolts,  in  which  the  Zaporogues, 
zealous  adherents  of  orthodoxy,  in  spite  of  their  brigandage, 
played  a  great  part.  Specially  distinguished  among  the  Cossack 
chiefs  were  Nalivaiko,  Pavliouk,  Ostranitsa,  and  many  others, 
whose  memory  has  been  retained  by  the  wandering  singers  of 
the  Ukraine.  The  Government  wished  after  each  victory  to 
give  satisfaction  to  the  Little  Russians,  but  their  authority  was 
not  sufficient  to  restrain  either  the  exigencies  of  the  pans  or 
the  intolerance  of  the  Jesuits.  To  the  horrible  atrocities  per- 
petrated on  the  insurgents,  the  latter  retaliated  at  each  insurrec- 
tion by  atrocities  still  greater.  Each  time  the  Government  was 
victorious,  and  after  each  defeat  the  yoke  pressed  more  heavily 


HISTOR  Y  OF  R USSTA.  2  7 1 

on  Little  Russia.  From  these  successes  sprang  a  new  clanger 
for  Poland.  The  eyes  of  the  oppressed  turned  towards  an  orilio- 
dox  sovereign — the  Tzar  of  Russia  ;  the  democratic  populations 
of  the  Ukraine  surmounted  their  repugnance  to  authority,  on 
seeing  the  anarchic  violence  produced  by  Polish  liberties.  '  The 
Cossacks  imagined  they  could  conquer  if  they  had  an  ally,  and 
this  ally  was  only  to  be  found  at  Moscow. 


272  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

fiLEXIS  MIKHAILOVITCH  (1645-1676)  AND  HIS  SON   FEODOR. 

tearly  years  of  Alexis — Seditions — Khmelnitski — Conquest  of  Smolensk  anc 
the  Eastern  Ukraine — Stenko  Razine — Ecclesiastical  reforms  of  Nicon— 
The  pi-ecursors  of  Peter  the  Great — Reign  of  Feodor  Alexievitch  (1676- 
16S2), 


EARLY  YEARS  OF  ALEXIS — SEDITIONS. 

The  rfc\gn  of  Alexis  Mikhailovitch  may  be  summed  up  in 
three  facts  :  tiie  reaction  against  Poland  and  the  union  with  Litile 
Russia;  the  struggle  between  the  empire  and  the  Cossacks  ;  the 
first  attempt  at  religious  reform,  and  the  growth  of  European 
influence. 

The  new  Tzar,  the  son  of  Michael  and  Eudoxia  Strechnef, 
was  good  and  easy,  like  his  father.  In  his  most  violent  rages, 
say  the  contemporary  writers,  he  never  allowed  himself  to  go 
beyond  kicks  and  cuffs.  Though  his  mind  was  quicker  than  his 
father's,  he  gave  hmiself  up  to  anyone  who  took  the  trouble  to 
influence  him,  even  to  the  point  of  permitting  himself  to  be 
ruled  entirely ;  unlike  Ivan  the  Terrible,  who,  as  we  have  seen, 
never  long  retained  the  same  favorites.  The  extreme  good- 
nature of  the  prince  towards  his  relations  had  grave  consequences. 
The  people  were  oppressed  with  impunity,  and  were  allowed  to 
make  no  complaint.  Alexis  gave  all  his  confidence  to  the  boy- 
ard  Morozof,  who  had  taken  charge  of  his  education,  and  for 
thirty  years  had  never  left  him.  INIorozof  was  proud,  ambitious, 
and  unscrupulous  ;  but  learned,  intelligent,  and  full  of  finesse. 
He  excelled  above  all  in  disentangling  the  diplomatic  complica- 
tions bequeathed  to  him  by  the  last  reign.  \\'hen  Alexis  was 
about  to  marry,  Morozof  did  not  disturb  himself  at  seeing  the 
young  bride,  Maria  Ilinitchna  Miloslavski,  arrive  with  a  whole  new 
dynasty  of  relations  and  "  men  of  the  time."  Instead  of  con- 
spiring, as  was  usual,  against  the  herdth  or  beauty  of  the  Tzarina, 
he  preferred  to  associate  her  family  with  his  power,  and  take 
from  them  a  suretv.  Me  married  a  sister  of  Maria  Ilinitchna, 
and  became  the  brother-in-law  of  his  sovereign.    He  thus  added 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA.  273 

to  the  old  title  of  favorite  the  new  one  of  a  kinsman  by  his  wife 
and  was  strengthened  in  his  power  instead  of  being  ejected  from 
it.  His  influence  wiih  liis  master  was  greater  than  Richelieu's 
with  Louis  XIII.,  and  he  had  the  honor  of  beginning  the  revenge 
for  the  civil  wars — the  war  with  Poland. 

Affairs  in  the  interior  were  always  too  complicated  for  Alexis 
to  be  able  to  act  very  energetically  in  his  relations  with  foreign 
Powers.  The  Russian  people  in  the  "  lime  of  the  troubles  "  had 
unlearnt  the  passive  and  resigned  obedience  that  had  formerly 
distinguished  them  ;  they  knew  no  longer  how  to  suffer  uncom- 
plainingly, and  complaint  soon  led  to  revolt.  We  must  also  rec- 
ognize the  fact  that  they  suffered  more  than  formerly.  Russia 
had  come  exhausted  out  of  her  civil  wars,  her  agriculture  and 
commerce  were  ruined,  and  her  population  diminished  by  emi- 
grations and  flight  into  the  Cossack  country.  The  state,  which 
already  began  to  feel  the  heavy  expenses  of  a  modern  empire, 
which  had  to  keep  up  an  army,  foreign  troops,  all  the  machinery 
of  war,  diplomacy,  and  an  administration,  saw  itself  forced  to 
increase  the  taxes,  which  fell  more  heavily  than  ever  on  the 
thinned  population.  The  Russian  Government  united  the  vices 
of  the  past  with  those  of  modern  times  ;  the  corruption  of  its 
agents,  the  impunity  of  the  favorites  and  their  creatures,  and 
the  defective  organization  of  justice,  tried  to  the  utmost  the 
diminished  patience  of  the  people. 

The  year  1648,  which  saw  the  breaking-out  of  the  Fronde  in 
France,  witnessed  a  terrible  revolt  in  Moscow.  The  Tzai,  power- 
less to  stem  the  torrent,  had  to  deliver  the  judge  Plechtche'ef 
over  to  the  people,  who  dealt  him  summary  justice.  They  then 
demanded  the  okolnitchii  Trakhaniotcs,  who  was  likewise  handed 
over  to  them  ;  finally,  their  fury  turned  against  Morozof,  but  the 
Tzar  aided  his  brother-in-law  to  escape  and  take  refuge  in  the 
convent  of  St.  Cyril,  whence  he  emerged  quietly,  like  another 
Mazarin,  when  the  public  emotion  was  appeased.  At  Pskof  the 
people  rose  on  pretence  that  the  Government  had  given  money 
and  corn  to  the  Nicmtsi  (Germans) — that  is,  the  Swedes — in  ac- 
cordance with  the  last  treaty  with  this  Power.  Nummens,  the 
Swede,  was  maltreated  and  imprisoned  by  the  populace  ;  the 
i'oievode  and  the  Prince  Volkonski,  envoy  of  Moscow,  expected 
to  be  jDut  to  death,  and  Archbishop  Macarius  was  twice  put  in 
chains.  From  Pskof  the  revolt  spread  to  Novgorod,  where  the 
Danish  ambassador  was  attacked  by  the  people,  and  left  for 
dead  in  the  streets.  Archbishop  Nicon,  who  tried  to  quell  ihe  re- 
bellion by  spiritual  arms,  was  met  by  blows,  and  the  strcltsi  made 
common  cause  with  the  people.  Novgorod  only  submitted  at  the 
approach  of  Prince  Khovanski  at  the  head  of  his  troops.    These 


2  74  HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA. 

troops  were  insufficient  for  the  reduction  of  Pskof,  which,  be- 
hind her  tried  ramparts,  prepared  to  resist  the  Muscovites,  as 
she  had  resisted  the  Poles.  The  Pskovians  made  many  success- 
ful sorties,  and  only  capitulated  under  the  promise  of  a  general 
amnesty.  Khovanski's  troops  were  too  few  to  enable  him  to 
refuse  their  conditions,  and  it  was  time  to  turn  against  external 
enemies  the  spirit  of  turbulence  that  the  civil  war  had  left  in 
the  masses. 

Happily  for  Russia,  Poland  was  still  more  profoundly  agi- 
tated, and  a  revolt  more  considerable  than  those  of  Moscow, 
Pskof,  or  Novgorod,  was  to  open  to  the  Muscovite  armies  the 
entrance  into  the  Ukraine. 


KHMELNITSKI — CONQUEST   OF   SMOLENSK   AND  THE   EASTERN 
UKRAINE STENKO    RAZINE. 

We  have  seen  that  Little  Russia,  after  many  partial  risings, 
only  awaited  a  chief  to  break  out  into  a  general  insurrection. 
This  chief  was  found  in  Bogdan  Khmelnitski, — a  brave,  clever, 
energetic,  and  even  educated  Cossack.  He  was  owner  of  Soub- 
botovo,  near  Tchigirine,  and  had  been  ill-treated  and  imprisoned 
by  one  of  his  neighbors,  the  Pole  Tchaplinski,  who  also  seized 
on  Khmelnitski's  son,  a  boy  of  ten  years,  and  had  him  whipped 
in  the  public  streets  by  his  men.  Khmelnitski  could  obtain  no 
redress,  either  for  himself  or  for  his  countrymen,  against  the 
Jews  an'd  the  taxes.  King  Vladislas  is  said  to  have  told  him 
that  the  senators  would  not  obey  him,  and,  drawing  a  sword  on 
paper,  he  handed  it  to  Bogdan,  observing,  "  This  is  the  sign 
royal  :  if  you  have  arms  at  your  sides,  resist  those  who  insult 
and  rob  you  ;  revenge  your  wrongs  with  your  swords,  and  when 
the  time  comes  you  will  help  me  against  the  pagans  and  the 
rebels  of  my  kingdom."  In  the  Polish  anarchy  of  that  date  it  is 
quite  possible  that  the  king  may  have  held  this  language,  and 
himself  placed  the  sword  in  the  hands  of  those  whom  he  could 
not  protect.  Vladislas  acknowledged  Bogdan  ataman  of  the 
Zaporogues,  and  in  return  Bogdan  promised  him  the  following 
year  a  body  of  12,000  men. 

Konetspolski,  the  gonfalonier  of  the  Crown,  and  Poto^ki, 
tried  to  get  rid  of  Bogdan,  but  he  fled  to  the  Zaporogues,  and 
then  passed  over  to  the  Khan  of  the  Crimea,  and  returned  to 
the  heroes  of  the  Dnieper  with  a  Mussulman  army.  To  Tatars 
and  Zaporogues  were  soon  added  all  the  malcontents  of  Little 
Russia.  Cossacks  and  people  were  alike  determined  to  finish 
with  it,      Bogdan  defeated  the   Polish  generals  Poto^^ki  and 


HISTOR  Y  OF  R USSIA.  275 


Kalinovski ;  first  at  the  "  Yellow  Waters,"  where  the  registered 
Cossacks  abandoned  the  Polish  banners  after  having  stabbed 
their  hctman  Barabbas,  and  then  at  Korsoun,  where  the  Poles 
lost  8000  men  and  41  guns.  The  two  generals  fell  into  the 
hands  of  Bogdan,  who  delivered  them  up  to  the  Khan  of  the 
Crimea.  This  double  victory  was  the  signal  of  a  general  insur- 
rection. The  orthodox  clergy  everywhere  preached  a  crusade 
against  the  Jesuits  and  Uniates,  and  everywhere  the  peasants 
rose  against  the  Polish  or  Polonized  pa7is.  The  castles  were 
demolished,  the  governors  put  to  death.  The  Jews  were  in  a 
sad  strait.  According  to  a  popular  song  they  only  asked  one 
thing — to  be  allowed  "to  escape  in  their  shirts  beyond  the  Vis- 
tula, abandoning  their  wealth  to  the  Cossacks,  and  promising  to 
teach  their  children  to  live  honestly,  and  to  covet  no  more  the 
land  of  the  Ukraine  '-  (1648). 

At  this  critical  moment  for  Poland,  King  Vladislas  died,  and 
the  Diet  met  at  Warsaw  for  the  new  election,  with  all  its  accus- 
tomed turbulence.  At  this  news  the  revolt  in  Little  Russia  in- 
creased. Wherever  the  nobles  could  defend  themselves  they 
gave  back  cruelty  for  cruelty.  Jeremiah  Vichnevetski,  a  power- 
ful Polonized  Russian  lord,  took  a  town  belonging  to  him  by 
assault,  and  exercised  the  most  horrible  reprisals.  "  Make 
them  suffer,"  he  cried  to  the  executioners,  "they  must  be  made 
to  feel  death  ;  "  and  his  Cossack  prisoners  were  impaled.  The 
Cossacks,  who  in  the  absence  of  a  king  expected  justice  from 
no  one,  broke  out  more  violently  than  ever.  Khmelnitski  pur- 
sued his  course  of  success  ;  he  defeated  the  Poles  near  Pilava, 
and  penetrated  into  Gallicia  as  far  as  Lemberg,  a  rich,  half- 
Jewish  city,  which  had  to  pay  a  war  indemnity.  Pie  was  be- 
sieging Podmostie  when  he  learned  that  John  Casimir  was 
elected  in  the  place  of  his  brother  Vladislas.  The  new  king  at 
once  sent  envoys  to  negotiate  his  submission.  The  commis- 
sioners promised  him  satisfaction  for  his  own  grievances  and 
those  of  the  Cossacks  on  condition  that  the  insurgents  were 
abandoned  to  them.  "  Let  the  peasants  return  to  their  ploughs, 
and  the  Cossacks  alone  bear  arms,"  said  the  Poles.  Bogdan 
could  neither  abandon  the  Cossacks,  who  would  not  hear  of  the 
register,  nor  the  country  people,  whose  revolt  had  given  him  the 
victory,  to  be  again  placed,  as  was  proposed,  under  the  yoke  of 
X\\^pans.  "  The  time  for  negotiations  is  past,"  he  said  to  the 
commissioners  ;  "  I  must  free  the  whole  Russian  nation  from 
the  yoke  of  the  Poles.  At  first  I  took  up  arms  for  my  own  in- 
juries— now  I  fight  for  the  true  faith.  The  people  will 'stand  by 
me  as  far  as  Lublin,  as  far  as  Cracow  ;  I  will  not  betray  them." 
'fhi^  war  continued,   anc|  Bogdan  summoned  the  Khan  of  the 


276  HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA. 

Crimea  to  his  aid,  and  marched  to  meet  the  Polish  army,  com- 
manded by  the  king  in  person.  John  Casimir  found  himself  at 
Zborovo  surrounded  by  the  innumerable  cavalry  of  the  enemy. 
It  would  have  been  all  over  with  him  had  he  not  purchased  the 
defection  of  the  Khan  of  the  Crimea  by  a  large  sum,  and  the 
promise  of  an  annual  tribute.  The  Khan  then  retired,  recom- 
mending his  ally  to  the  clemency  of  the  king.  Khmelnitski  v.as 
driven  to  treat ;  the  register  was  re-established,  but  the  number 
of  Cossacks  enrolled  was  raised  to  40,000  ;  Bogdan  was  recog- 
nized hetman  of  Little  Russia,  and  the  town  of  Tchigirine  as- 
signed to  him  as  a  residence.  It  was  agreed  that  there  should 
be  neither  Crown  troops  nor  Jews  in  the  localities  inhabited  by 
the  Cossacks,  and  no  Jesuits  where  orthodox  schools  existed. 
The  Metropolitan  of  Kief  was  to  have  a  seat  in  the  senate  of 
Warsaw. 

What  Bogdan  had  foreseen  when  he  refused  to  treat  really 
happened  ;  the  treaty  could  not  be  executed.  The  number  of 
fighting  men  who  had  taken  part  in  the  election  exceeded  40,000 
• — were  those  in  excess  to  be  relegated  to  the  work  of  the  fields, 
to  the  seignorial  corvee  f  The  people  had  helped  the  Cossacks, 
were  they  then  to  be  surrendered  to  their  pans  ?  Bogdan  soon 
found  himself  involved  in  inextricable  diificulties  :  on  one  side 
he  violated  the  treaty  by  enrolling  more  than  40.000  men  in  his 
register ;  on  the  other  hand,  if  he  executed  it,  he  would  have  to 
begin  by  inflicting  death  on  the  rebels.  He  wore  out  his  popu- 
larity in  performing  this  ungrateful  task.  He  preferred  to  take 
up  arms,  accusing  the  Poles  of  having  broken  certain  clauses  of 
the  treaty.  This  war  was  less  successful  than  the  first ;  the 
Khan  of  the  Crimea,  who  a  second  time  came  to  the  aid  of  the 
Cossacks,  a  second  time  betrayed  them,  and  the  Cossacks  were 
beaten  at  Berestechtko.  The  conditions  of  the  Peace  of  the 
White  Church  {Belaia  Tcherkof)  were  more  severe  than  those  of 
the  first  peace.  The  number  of  registered  Cossacks  was  reduced 
to  20,000  ;  and  20,000  more,  thus  finding  themselves  excluded 
from  the  army,  were  thrown  back  upon  the  people.  The  greater 
part  chose  rather  to  emigrate  to  Russian  soil,  to  wander  to  the 
Don,  or  to  live  by  brigandage  on  the  Volga. 

A  peace  such  as  this  was  only  a  truce,  and  the  Cossacks 
were  certain  to  break  it  as  soon  as  they  could  find  an  ally. 
Bogdan  wrote  to  entreat  the  Tzar  to  take  Little  Russia  under 
his  protection.  The  Government  of  Alexis  had  sought  for  some 
time  a  pretext  for  rupture  with  Poland.  The  Polish  Government, 
in  writinjr  to  the  T/.ar,  had  not  used  the  full  roval  title.  Moscow 
never  missed  an  opportunity  for  remonstrance  ;  Warsaw  assured 
them    that    it    was    pure    inadvertence.      "  Then,"    said    the 


HIS  TORY  OF  R  USSTA .  277 

Russians,  "an  example  must  be  made  of  the  guilty."  No  ex- 
ample was  made,  and  the  diminution  of  title  was  used  at  every 
interchange  of  notes.  The  Court  of  Russia  kept  up  this  casus 
belli,  wailii-.g  for  a  moment  to  profit  by  it  ;  this  was  found  in  the 
appeal  of  Khmelnitski.  The  Estates  were  convoked,  and  to 
lliem  were  reported  ihe  repeated  insults  to  his  Tzarian  Majestv, 
and  the  persecution  of  the  true  faith  in  Little  Russia.  It  was 
added,  that  the  Little  Russians,  if  repulsed  by  the  Tzar,  would 
have  to  place  themselves  under  the  protection  of  the  Sultan. 
On  this  occasion  the  Estates  declared  for  war.  Alexis  sent  the 
boyard  Boulourlinc  to  receive  the  oath  of  the  hetman,  the  army, 
and  the  people  of  Little  Russia. 

It  was  time  that  the  Tzar  decided.  Bogdan,  betrayed  a 
third  time  by  the  Khan,  had  been  defeated  at  Ivanetz  on  the 
Dniester,  but  on  the  receipt  of  the  news  from  Moscow  he  called 
the  General  Assembly  at  Pere'iaslavl  to  announce  to  them  the 
fact.  "  Noble  colonels  ;  esaouls,  and  centurions,  and  you  armv 
of  Zaporogues,  and  you  orthodox  Christians,"  cried  the  hetman, 
"you  see  it  is  no  longer  possible  to  live  without  a  prince.  Now 
we  have  four  to  choose  from  :  the  Sulian  of  Turkey,  the  Khan  of 
the  Crimea,  the  King  of  Poland,  and  the  Tzar  of  orthodox 
Great  Russia,  whom  for  six  years  we  have  not  ceased  to  entreat 
to  become  our  Tzar  and  lord.  The  Sultan  is  a  Mussulman  ;  we 
know  what  our  brethren  the  orthodox  Greeks  suffered  at  his 
hands.  The  Khan  is  also  a  Mussuhnan,  and  our  alliances  with 
him  have  brought  us  nothing  but  trouble.  It  is  needless  to 
remind  you  of  what  the  VoWsh  pans  have  made  us  endure.  But 
the  Christian  and  orthodox  Tzar  is  of  the  same  religion  as 
ourselves.  We  shall  not  find  a  better  support  than  his.  Who- 
ever thinks  otherwise  may  go  where  he  likes — the  way  is  open." 
The  air  rang  with  applause,  the  oath  demanded  by  Boutourline 
was  taken,  and  an  embassy  set  out  for  Moscow,  to  ask  the  main- 
tenance of  Ukranian  liberties.  The  Tzar  freelv  granted  all 
their  conditions  :  the  army  was  to  be  raised  permanently  to  the 
number  of  60,000  ;  the  Cossacks  were  to  elect  their  hetman  ; 
the  rights  of  the  schliaclita  and  the  towns  were  to  be  maintained  ; 
the  administration  of  the  towns  and  the  imposition  of  taxes 
were  to  be  entrusted  to  the  natives  ;  the  hetman  was  to  have 
the  right  of  receiving  foreign  ambassadors,  but  was  to  signify 
the  fact  to  the  Tzar;  and  he  was  forbidden,  without  special 
leave,  to  receive  the  envoys  of  Turkey  and  Poland. 

In  May  1654  the  Tzar  Alexis  solemnly  announced  in  the 
Ouspienski  Sobor  that  he  had  resolved  to  march  in  person 
against  his  enemy  the  King  of  Poland.  He  commanded  that 
in  this  campaign  no  occasion  should  be  given  for  the  generals 


2^8  HTSTOR  Y  OF  R  USSTA. 

to  dispute  precedence.  The  Polish  voievodes  affirm  that  on  this 
occasion  "  Moscow  made  war  in  quite  a  new  way,  and  conquered 
the  people  by  the  clemency  and  gentleness  of  the  Tzar,"  This 
humanity,  so  well  timed  in  a  war  of  deliverance,  contributed 
greatly  to  the  success  of  the  Muscovites.  Polotsk,  Mohilef,  and 
all  the  towns  of  White  Russia  opened  their  gates  one  after  the 
other,  and  Smolensk  only  resisted  five  weeks  (1654).  The 
following  vear  the  Prince  Tcherkasski  defeated  the  hetman 
Radziwill  and  began  the  conquest  of  Lithuania  proper ;  Wilna, 
the  capital,  Grodno,  and  Kobno,  fell  successively.  During  this 
time  Khmelnitski  and  the  Muscovites  invaded  Southern  Poland 
and  tookLublin.  All  the  East  resounded  with  the  Russian 
victories  :  it  was  said  at  Moscow  that  the  Greeks  prayed  for  the 
Tzar  and  refused  obedience  to  any  but  an  orthodox  emperor,  and 
that  the  Hospodars  of  Wallachia  and  Moldavia  implored  Alexis 
to  take  them  under  his  protection. 

Poland  seemed  reduced  to  the  last  extremity  ;  and  there 
was  still  a  third  enemy  to  fall  on  her.  Charles  X.,  King  of 
Sweden,  arrived  and  captured  Posen,  Warsaw,  and  Cracow,  the 
three  Polish  capitals.  This  conflict  of  ambitions  was,  however, 
the  salvation  of  \\\&  fospoUte ;  the  Swede  threatened  the  Russian 
conquests,  and  claimed  Lithuania.  He  entered  into  relations 
with  Khmelnitski,  who  forgot  the  oath  he  had  taken  ;  it  was 
Charles  XII,  and  Mazeppa  enacted  half  a  century  before.  The 
Tzar  Alexis  feared  he  had  only  shaken  Poland  to  strengthen 
Sweden,  and  would  not  risk  the  reunion  of  these  two  formidable 
monarchies  under  the  same  sceptre.  He  hastened  to  negotiate 
with  the  Poles,  who  promised  to  elect  him  after  the  death  of 
their  present  king;  then  he  turned  his  arms  against  Sweden. 
The  latter  was  the  heir  on  the  Baltic  of  the  Livonian  Order. 
Alexis  trod  in  the  steps  of  Ivan  the  Terrible  ;  like  him,  his 
successes  were  rapid,  but  they  as  rapidly  evaporated  in  smoke. 
He  took  Diinaburg  and  Kokenhusen,  two  old  castles  of  the 
Knights  ;  but  the  Russians  besieged  Riga  in  vain,  and  succeeded 
no  better  at  Orechek  or  Kexholm.  The  occupation  of  Dorpat 
terminated  the  first  campaign  (1656)  ;  after  that,  hostilities  lan- 
guished, and  Alexis  concluded  a  truce  of  twenty  years,  which 
secured  him  Dorpat  and  a  part  of  his  conquests.  The  affairs  of 
Poland  and  Little  Russia  became,  however,  so  terribly  compli- 
cated, that  the  truce  became  the  Peace  of  Cardis,  by  which 
Alexis  abandoned  all  Livonia  (1661). 

The  hetman  Khmelnitski  had  more  than  once  given  his  new 
sovereign  cause  for  discontent.  In  spite  of  his  oath,  he  had 
negotiated  with  Sweden  and  Poland.  In  fact,  now  that  he  had 
got  rid  of  his  former  master,  he  did  not  want  to  become  the 


IIISTOR  Y  OF  RUSSIA.  3 -n 

vassal  of  a  new  sovereign,  but  to  create  a  third  Slav  State  be- 
tween Poland  and  Russia,  and  to  remain  its  independent 
sovereign.  This  hope  was  shared  by  the  Cossacks.  Thev  had 
revolted  against  Poland  because  the  king  was  weak  and  could 
not  make  himself  respected  by  the  aristocracy;  they  feared  the 
Tzar  of  Muscovy  would  be  only  too  strong.  All  government, 
all  auihority,  was  a  burden  to  the  free  Cossack. 

Bogdan,  however,  kept  up  the  appearances  of  submission.  His 
de:ilh  was  the  signal  of  disorder.  Vygovski,  chancellor  of  the 
Cossack  arm\',  took  the  mace  of  the  hetman,  but  Martin 
Pouciikar,  iha' polkovuik  of  Pultowa,  and  the  Zaporogues,  refused 
to  recognize  him.  Vygovski,  Pouchkar,  and  the  Zaporogue 
ataman  denounced  each  other  at  Moscow.  Vygovski  caused 
Pouchkar  to  be  assassinated,  and  made  advance's  to  Poland,  to 
secure  himself  an  ally  against  the  Tzar;  he  also  applied  to  the 
Khan  of  the  Crimea,  and  defeated  Prince  Troubeiskoi  at  Kono- 
top  ;  but  after  the  retreat  of  the  Khan,  the  majority  of  the  Cos- 
sacks declared  for  Moscow,  and  obliged  the  rebel  to  fly  to 
Poland.  George  Khmelnitski,  son  of  the  liberator,  was  elected 
hetman. 

The  troubles  of  Little  Russia  revived  the  courage  of  the 
Poles.  They  succeeded  in  expelling  the  Swedes,  and  refused  to 
execute  the  treaty  of  Moscow.  The  war  recommenced,  and 
the  Russians  were  unfortunate.  The  very  extremity  of  their 
misfortunes  seemed  to  have  bound  the  Poles  together.  After 
some  slight  successes,  one  Russian  army  was  defeated  at 
Polonka  by  the  voievode  Tcharnetski,  the  conqueror  of  the 
Swedes ;  another,  commanded  by  the  boyard  Cheremetief  and 
the  hetman  George  Khmelnitski,  allowed  itself  to  be  surrounded 
near  Tchoudnovo  by  the  Tatars  and  Poles,  and  being  deserted 
by  the  Cossacks,  was  forced  to  lay  down  its  arms.  In  the 
north  they  lost  Wiliia  and  the  whole  of  Lithuania. 

Khmelnitski,  had  become  a  monk.  Teteria,  his  successor, 
had  done  homage  to  the  king  ;  but  the  country  on  the  left  bank 
of  the  Dnieper  refused  to  recognize  him  as  hetman,  and  elected 
Brioukhovetski,  who  was  devoted  to  Russia.  John  Casimir 
crossed  the  river,  and  was  on  the  point  of  reconquering  the 
whole  Ukraine  ;  but  having  been  repulsed  at  the  siege  of  Glou- 
khof,  he  lost  all  his  best  troops  through  hunger  and  cold  in  the 
steppes  of  the  desert.  The  two  empires  were  exhausted  by  a 
war  which  had  already  lasted  ten  years.  The  wnole  of  Poland 
had  been  overrun  by  Swedes,  Russians,  and  Cossacks.  Russia 
had  no  longer  money  with  which  to  pay  her  army,  and  she  had 
recourse  to  a  forced  currency,  by  which  a  bronze  coinage  was 
given   the   fictitious   value  of  silver.     Everywhere    were  heard 


28o  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

bitter  complaints  of  the  famine.  At  Moscow  a  riot  broke  out 
against  tlie  Miloslavskis,  the  kinsmen  of  the  Tzarina,  and  the 
mukitude  marched  to  the  palace  of  Kolomenskoe  to  drag  them 
out  by  force.  The  soldiers  had  to  fire  on  the  rebels,  and  7000 
of  them  were  killed  or  taken. 

Noth withstanding  all  this,  neither  the  Poles  nor  the  Russians 
would  lay  down  arms  without  being  assured  the  possession  oi 
all  that  they  had  conquered  with  so  many  sacrifices.  Poland 
was  now  attacked  by  two  new  misfortunes — the  revolt  of  Prince 
Lubomirski,  who  had  some  grievance  against  the  queen,  and  the 
death  of  Teieria,  whose  successor,  Dorochenko,  went  over  to 
the  Sultan,  and  by  so  doing  involved  the  Government  in  a  war 
with  both  Turks  and  Tatars.  It  was  necessary  to  treat  with 
Russia,  and  a  thirteen  years'  truce  was  concluded  at  Androus- 
sovo.  Alexis  renounced  Lithuania,  but  kept  Smolensk  and 
Kief  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Dnieper,  and  all  the  Little  Russian 
left  bank  (1667). 

The  treaty  w-ith  Poland  did  not  give  peace  to  Little  Russia. 
Xtiither  the  Dnieper  Cossacks  nor  the  Don  Cossacks  could 
exist  under  the  obedience  and  regularitv  essential  to  a  modern 
S'.ate.  The  more  Russia  became  civilized  and  centralized,  the 
more  she  became  separated  from  the  men  of  the  Steppe  ;  the 
tnrtlier  the  frontier  of  this  civilized  Russia  advanced  to  the 
S^)uth,  the  nearer  approached  the  inevitable  confiict.  The  reign 
or  Alexis,  troubled  at  first  by  the  revolts  of  the  Muscovite  cities, 
was  now  vexed  by  the  revolts  of  the  Cossacks. 

The  hetman  Brioukhovetski  was  a  devoted  adherent  of 
Rissia,  but  he  was  surrounded  by  many  malcontents.  As  usual, 
the  people  had  not  got  all  they  had  hoped  by  the  revolution  ; 
he  saw,  however,  in  the  absolute  authority  of  the  Tzar,  a  bul- 
waik  asrainst  the  Little  Russian  oligarchv  of  the  starchina  and 
t!"!"":  polkovniks,  and  against  the  turbulence  of  the  Cossacks. 
"  God,"  he  said  to  the  latter,  "  has  delivered  us  from  you  ;  you 
can  no  longer  pillage  and  devastate  our  houses."  The  Cossacks 
and  the  starchina,  or  in  other  words,  the  military  and  aristocratic 
party,  were  still  more  displeased  to  see  the  Muscovite  voTevodes 
establish  themselves  in  the  towns.  The  Republic  of  the 
Zaporogues  already  feared  that  it  had  given  itself  a  master. 
Methodius,  Metropolitan  of  Kief,  encouraged  the  resistance  of 
a  party  of  the  clergv  who  wished  ro  remain  subject  to  the  Patri- 
arch of  Constantinople,  and  not  to  be  transferred  to  the  Patri- 
arch of  Moscow.  It  was  Methodius  who  organized  the  rebellion  ; 
he  made  advances  to  the  hetman,  who  ojiened  a  negotiation 
with  Dorochenko,  the  ataman  of  the  right  bank,  who  promised 
to  resign  his  office  and  to  recoo^ni^  as  chief  of  Little  Russia  the 


HIS  TOR  \ '  OF  R  USSIA.  2  8 1 

man  who  would  deliver  her.  The  weak  Brioukhovetski  allowed 
himself  to  be  persuaded,  and  at  the  Assembly  of  Gadatch,  in 
1668,  it  was  decided  to  revolt  against  the  Tzar,  and  to  take  the 
oath  to  the  Sultan,  as  the  men  of  the  right  bank  had  already 
done.  Two  voievodes.and  120  Muscovites  were  put  to  death.  A 
short  time  after,  Brioukhovetski  was  slain  by  order  of  Doro- 
chenko,  who  became  hetman  of  both  banks.  But  of  the  two 
parlies  which  divided  Little  Russia,  the  party  of  independence 
or  the  Polish  and  Turkish  Party,  and  the  party  of  Moscow,  the 
latter  was  predominant  on  the  left  bank.  It  did  not  hesitate  to 
make  terms  with  the  Tzar,  and,  at  the  price  of  a  few  concessions, 
a  second  time  submitted  to  him  entirely.  Mnogogrechnyi,  the 
new  hetman,  took  up  his  abode  at  Batourine. 

The  right  bank  had  no  reason  to  pride  itself  on  the  policy  to 
which  it  was  committed  by  Uorochenko.  It  became  the  theatre 
of  a  terrible  war  between  Turkey  and  Poland,  and  was  cruelly 
ravaged  by  Mahomet  IV.  Abandoned  for  a  moment  by  the  weak 
King  Michael  Vichnevetski,  it  was  conquered  by  his  energetic 
successor,  John  Sobieski.  The  left,  or  Muscovite  bank,  had 
less  to  sulifer,  although  the  Sultan  claimed  it  equally  as  his  own 
possession,  but  the  inhabitants  had  only  to  fight  with  their  old 
enemies  the  Tatars. 

The  Cossacks  of  the  Don  at  this  period  were,  on  the  whole, 
tolerably  quiet;  but  one  of  their  number,  Slenko  Razine,  over- 
turned all  Eastern  Russia.  The  immigration  of  Cossacks  of  the 
Dnieper,  expelled  from  their  native  land  by  war,  had  created  a 
great  famine  in  these  poor  plains  of  the  Don.  Stenko  assem- 
bled some  of  these  starved  adventurers,  and  formed  a  scheme 
for  the  capture  of  Azof ;  but  on  being  hindered  by  the  starchina 
of  the  Dontsi,  he  turned  towards  the  East,  towards  the  Volga 
and  the  Ja'ik  (Oural).  His  reputation  was  wide-spread;  he 
was  said  to  be  a  magician,  against  whom  neither  sabre,  balls, 
nor  bullets  could  prevail,  and  the  brigands  of  all  the  country 
crowded  to  his  banner.  He  swept  the  Caspian,  and  ravaged 
the  shores  of  Persia.  The  Russian  Government,  powerless  to 
crush  him,  offered  him  a  pardon  if  he  would  surrender  his  guns 
and  boats  stolen  from  the  Crown.  He  accepted  the  offer;  but 
his  exploits,  his  wealth  acquired  by  pillage,  and  his  princely 
liberality  created  him  an  immense  party  among  the  lower  classes, 
and  among  the  Cossacks  and  even  the  strcltsi  of  the  towns.  The 
lands  of  the  Volga  were  always  ready  for  a  social  revolution  ; 
hence  the  success  of  Razine,  and  later  of  Pougatchef.  There 
brigands  were  popular  and  respected  ;  honest  merchants,  come 
to  the  Don  for  trading  purposes,  and  learning  that  Stenko  had 
begun  the  career  of  a  pirate,  did  not  hesitate  to  join  him. 


282  HrSTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

In  1670,  Stenko  having  spent  all  the  money  he  had  gained 
by  pillage,  went  up  the  Don  with  an  army  of  vagabonds,  and 
thence  crossed  to  the  Volga.  All  the  country  rose  on  the  ap- 
proach of  a  chief  already  so  famous.  The  inhabitants  of  Tzar- 
itsvne  opened  their  gates  to  him.  A  flotilla  was  sent  against 
him,  but  the  sailors  and  the  streltsi  surrendered,  and  betrayed 
to  him  their  commanders.  Astrakhan  revolted,  and  delivered 
up  its  two  voievodes,  one  of  whom  was  thrown  from  the  top  of  a 
bell-tower.  Ascending  the  Volga,  he  took  Saratof  and  Samara, 
and  raised  the  country  of  Nijni-Novgorod,  Tambof,  and  Pensa. 
Evervwhere  in  the  Russia  of  the  Volga  the  serfs  revolted 
agamst  their  masters — the  Tatars,  Tchouvaches,  Mordvians,  and 
Tcheremisses  against  the  domination  of  Russia.  It  was  a  fear- 
ful revolution.  In  167 1  Stenko  Razine  was  defeated,  near 
Simbirsk,  by  George  Baratinski.  His  prestige  was  lost;  he  was 
pursued  into  the  steppes,  arrested  on  the  Don,  and  sent  to  Mos- 
cow, where  he  was  executed  (167 1). 

His  death  did  not  immediately  check  the  rebellion.  The 
brigands  still  continued  to  hold  the  countrv.  At  Astrakhan, 
Vassili  Ouss  governed  despotically,  and  threw  the  archbishop 
from  a  belfry.  Finally,  however,  all  these  imitators  of  Razine 
were  killed  or  captured,  the  Volga  freed,  and  the  Don  became 
as  peaceful  as  the  Dnieper. 


ECCLESIASTICAL   REFORMS  OF  NICON — THE   PRECURSORS  OF   PETER 

THE   GREAT. 

If  Alexis,  father  of  Peter  the  Great,  was  not  himself  a  re- 
former, his  whole  reign  w-as  a  preparation  for  reform.  Who  can 
tell  how  much  Peter  owed  to  the  example  of  his  father — and  of 
his  mother  Natalia,  the  pupil  of  Matveef — to  the  ideas  of  Ni- 
con,  Polotski  and  Nachtchokine  ?  Nicon  was  the  son  of  a 
simple  peasant  of  the  Government  of  Nijni-Novgorod.  The 
Church  drew  the  young  man  from  obscurity,  and  gave  him 
little  by  little  a  place  among  those  who  were  great.  A 
priest  at  Moscow,  a  recluse  renowned  for  his  piety  on  the 
banks  of  the  White  Lake,  and  later  an  archimandrite  of  the 
A^ovospasski Aronastyr,\vQ  was  at  last  nominated  Metropolitan  of 
Novgorod,  where  we  have  seen  him  appease  a  sedition  at  the 
peril  of  his  life.  The  Tzar  loved  and  admired  him,  and  made 
him  Patriarch,  and  allowed  him  to  take  the  title  of  Chief  Noble 
and  Sovereign,  once  borne  by  Philarete.  A  man  who  had 
raised  himself  to  such  a  height  from  such  a  depth  was  not  cap- 
able of  mastering  his  ambition.     Proud  and  imperious,  he  made 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA.  ^J^, 

himself  a  multitude  of  enemies  among  the  clergy  and  the  nobles, 
and  despised  them, 

Nicon  took  up  the  correction  of  the  holy  books  began   by 
Dionysius  of  Troitsa.  A  number  of  gross  mistakes  and  even  inter 
polations  had  slipped  into  the  Slavonic  manuscripts,  and  thence 
passed    into    print.     On  being  informed  of   these  mistakes  by 
some  Greek  prelates  who  had  come  to   Moscow,  Nicon  assem- 
bled a  council,  where  it  was  decided  that  the  printed  books  must 
be  corrected  according  to  the  ancient  Slavonic  or  Greek  manu- 
scripts.    Nicon  collected    these  texts  from  all  parts,  and,  with 
the  help    of  learned  ecclesiastics,  set  to  work.     This  attempt, 
which  denotes  a  truly  modern  and  scientific  spirit,  was  the  cause 
of  a  schism.     To  the  people,  and  to  a  large  party  of  the  clergy 
and  monks,  everything  in  the  holy  books,  even  the  mistakes  of 
tlie  copyists,  was  sacred.     Certain  altered  or  interpolated  texts 
had  in  their  turn  consecrated  usages  opposed  to  those  generally 
followed  by  the  Church.     The  sectaries  relying  on  these  texts 
forbade  the  beard  to  be  shaven  under  the  penalty  of  committing 
a  mortal  sin,  and  ordered  the  sign  of  the  cross  to  be  made  with 
two  fingers  and  not  with  three,  and  the   liturgy  with  se\'en  pros- 
pliires  and  not  with  five.     Fanatics  were  ready  to  die  sooner  than 
read  lisoiis  for  Jsoiis  (Jesus).     Besides  those  whom  an  excessive 
respect  for  ancient  texts  and  customs  drove  into  schism,   we 
must  reckon  true  heretics,  who  adopted  falsified  or  apocryphal 
renderings,  and  who,  after  having  been   for   long   hidden    and 
ignored  in  the  bosom  of  the  orthodox  Church,  were  all  at  once 
unmasked.     Thus  the   reforms  of   Nicon   brought  to   liuht   the 
;-(r.f/'rV  latent  in   the   Russian  Church,  with  all   its  multiplicitv  of 
sects — Old    Believers,    Drinkers    of    Milk,    Champions   of    the 
Spirit,   Flagellants,    Skoptsi,    or  voluntary  eunuchs,  and   many 
others,  whose  origin  may  be  traced  to  Alexandrine  Gnosticism, 
Persian  Manichxism,  and   perhaps   even  to  Hindu  Pantheism 

(1654). 

The  Tzar  energetically  supported  his  patriarch.  He  dili- 
gently sought  out  the  religious  madmen  {ioiinniivic)  and  the  wan- 
dering prophets  who  led  the  people  astray,  disgraced  the  men 
and  women  of  his  Court  who  persisted  in  crossing  themselves 
with  two  fingers,  imprisoned  rebellious  monks  and  ecclesiastics, 
and  hunted  down  assemblies  of  non-conformists.  One  of  Ni- 
con's  enemies  w^as  burnt  alive.  The  most  curious  episode  of 
this  religious  war  was  the  revolt  of  the  holv  monasteries  of  the 
White  Sea.  The  monks,  passionately  attached  to  their  ancient 
customs,  won  over  the  streltsi  and  the  dic'ti-boyarskie  who  formed 
the  garrison  of  the  fortified  convent  of  Solovetski.  An  army 
had  to  be  sent  against  them  (1668),  but  the  monastery  only  capit- 


284  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

ulated  after  a   siege  of  eight  years.     It  was  then  taken  by  as- 
sault, and  the  rebels  hung. 

At  the  same  time  that  Alexis  enabled  Nicon  to  subdue  his 
religious  foes,  he  delivered  him  up  to  his  political  enemies. 
The  proud  and  imperious  character  of  the  Patriarch  had  ended 
by  rendering  him  insupportable  to  the  Tzar.  It  was  a  reproduc- 
tion of  the  rivalry  of  the  Patriarch  Keroularios  and  the  Em- 
peror Isaac  Comnenus  in  the  nth  century  (Byzantine).  The 
courtiers  did  their  best  to  foment  this  misunderstanding.  Nicon, 
instead  of  combating  their  arts,  treated  them  with  disdain.  At 
last  his  enemies  put  upon  him  a  public  insult,  which  made  him 
beside  himself.  In  the  midst  of  the  tears  of  the  people,  he 
solemnly  placed  his  pontifical  insignia  on  the  altar,  and  retired 
to  a  convent  he  had  founded  near  Moscow.  This  was  to  relin- 
quish the  field  of  battle  to  his  adversaries.  He  expected  that 
the  Tzar  would  beseech  him  to  resume  his  office,  but  the  Tzar 
did  not  trouble  himself  about  his  old  favorite.  His  voluntary 
exile  lasted  eight  years  (165S-1666),  when  a  council  was  assem- 
bled on  the  occasion  of  the  arrival  of  the  Patriarchs  of  Antioch 
and  Alexandria  at  Moscow.  The  council  approved  of  Nicon's 
reforms  and  his  corrections  of  the  sacred  books  ;  but  for  his 
voluntary  desertion  of  the  patriarchate,  his  audacious  attacks  on 
the  Tzar  and  the  bishops,  and  the  abuse  of  his  power  over  the 
inferior  clergy,  he  was  condemned  to  be  imprisoned  in  a  mon- 
astery on  the  White  Lake. 

By  the  side  of  Nicon  among  the  reformers,  we  must  mention 
Simeon  Polotski,  tutor  of  the  sons  of  Alexis,  who  published 
against  the  raskolniks  the  '  Rod  of  Government ;  '  wrote  light 
verses,  panegyrics,  sermons,  dramatic  compositions,  maxims,  and 
examples  drawn  from  the  Scriptures,  and  never  ceased  to  remind 
the  Tzar  of  a  French  king.  "There  was  once,"  he  wrote,  "a 
King  of  France  called  Francis  I.  As  he  loved  literature  and 
science,  though  his  ancestors  hated  them  and  lived  in  ignorance 
like  barbarians,  the  sons  of  illustrious  families  sought  instruction, 
in  order  to  please  the  monarch.  Thus  knowledge  spread  through 
the  country,  for  it  is  the  custom  of  subjects  to  imitate  the  prince  ; 
all  love  what  he  loves.  Happy  is  the  kingdom  whose  king  gives 
a  good  example  to  all  !  "  Sinieon  was  a  White  Russian  ;  others, 
like  Slavinetski  and  Satanovski,  who  were  charged  bv  Nicon  with 
the  translation  of  foreign  books,  were  natives  of  Little  Russia, 
of  Kief  the  learned.  These  two  western  divisions  of  Russia 
served  as  a  link  between  Muscovy  and  Europe. 

Two  writers  of  this  epoch  merit  special  mention.  Gregory 
Kotochikhine,  under-secretary  of  the  Prikaz  of  Embassies,  was 
obliged,  in  consequence  of  a   quarrel  with   the  voievode  Dol* 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


285 


gorouKi,  to  fly  first  into  Poland  and  then  into  Sweden,  where  he 
wrote  a  curious  treatise,  called  '  Russia  under  the  reign  of  Alexis 
Mikhailovitch,'  which  appeared  about  1666.  He  does  not  con- 
cern himself  either  with  the  clergy  or  the  inferior  classes,  but 
gives  a  frightful  picture  of  the  ignorance,  sensuality,  and  brutalitv 
of  the  boyards  and  nobles.  So  graphic  is  it  that,  as  Polevoi 
remarks,  we  are  forced  involuntarily  to  ask,  "  In  what  state  could 
tlie  lower  orders  have  been  ? "  He  speaks  with  horror  and 
disgust  of  the  administration  of  justice,  compares  foreign  institu- 
tions with  those  of  his  own  country  to  the  advantage  of  the 
former,  and  regrets  that  his  compatriots  did  not  send  their  sons 
to  be  educated  abroad. 

louri  Krijanitch,  a  Servian  by  birth  and  a  Catholic  priest, 
was  one  of  those  learned  Slavs  who  now  came  into  Russia  to  seek 
employment  for  their  talents.  He  had  proposed  to  himself  three 
aims  in  coming  to  Moscow:  i.  To  elevate  the  Slavonic  tongue 
by  compiling  a  grammar  and  a  lexicon,  so  that  tlie  Slavs  might 
learn  to  speak  and  write  correctly ;  and  to  place  a  larger  number 
of  words  and  phrases  at  their  disposal,  so  that  they  might  be 
able  to  express  all  the  thoughts  common  to  the  human  mind, 
and  also  ])olitical  and  general  ideas.  2.  To  write  the  history 
of  the  Slavs,  and  to  refute  the  falsehoods  and  calumnies  of  the 
Germans.  3.  To  unmask  the  tricks  and  sophisms  made  use  of 
by  foreisfn  nations  to  deceive  the  Slavs.  In  his  work  entitled 
'The  Russian  Empire  in  the  middle  of  the  17th  Century,  dedi- 
cated to  Alexis  Mikhailovitch,  and  lately  republished  by  M. 
Bezsonof,  he  touches  on  all  points  of  manners  and  customs, 
politics,  and  political  economy.  Like  Kotochikhine,  he  attacks 
ignorance  and  barbarism,  and  advocates  instruction,  study,  and 
civilization,  as  being  the  only  remedies  for  the  misfortunes  of 
Russia. 

Krijanitch  is  the  first  of  the  Slavophiles,  or  the  Pan-Slavists, 
as  they  are  at  present  called.  He  appeals  to  all  tlie  Slav  nations 
' — "  Borysthenites,  or  Little  Russians,  Poles,  Lithuanians,  and 
Serbs.  He  advises  the  Russians  to  mistrust  equally  Germans 
and  Greeks.  It  was  probably  his  philippics  against  the  (jreck 
clergv  established  in  Russia  that  caused  him  in  i66o  to  be  exiled 
to  Tobolsk. 

Ordine-Nachtchokine,  son  of  a  gentleman  of  Pskof,  distin- 
guished himself  as  a  diplomatist  in  the  negotiations  for  the  Peace 
of  Androussovo,  which  gave  Kief  and  Smolensk  to  Russia.  Sum- 
moned to  take  part  in  the  councils  of  the  Tzar,  he  applied  his 
activity  to  all  branches  of  the  administration  ;  to  the  army,  that 
needed  reform  ;  to  commerce,  that  must  be  freed  from  the  i;;- 
terference  of  the  yoievodes  ;  to  diplomacy,  forwhi(h  men  skilled 


286  HISTOR  Y  OF  RUSSIA. 

in  languages,  representatives  worthy  of  the  Court  of  Russia,  must 
be  found.  His  object  was  to  make  IMuscovy  the  centre  of 
Asiatic  and  European  trade  ;  he  instituted  an  Armenian  Company 
for  the  purchase  of  Persian  silks,  dreamed  of  a  fleet  on  the 
Caspian,  constructed  the  first  Russian  vessel  on  the  Oka,  had 
extracts  from  foreign  news-letters  regularly  translated  for  the 
enlightenment  of  the  sovereign,  and  thus  founded,  though  for  the 
Tzar's  benefit  alone,  the  Russian  press. 

As  he  had  necessarily  to  praise  the  usages  of  foreign  coun- 
tries, and  to  find  fault  with  those  of  Russia,  Nachtchokine  could 
not  but  make  himself  many  enemies.  His  morality  was  equal 
to  his  talent  :  incorruptible,  indefatigable,  and  master  of  himself, 
he  was  the  first  great  European  that  Russia  had  produced.  While 
praising  Europe  he  still  remained  a  Russian.  In  his  old  age 
he  become  a  monk. 

When  Nachtchokine  had  to  leave  his  post,  the  boyard 
Matveef,  a  familiar  friend  of  Alexis,  was  appointed  his  successor. 
One  day,  when  the  Tzar  was  dining  with  Matveef,  he  noticed  a 
young  girl  who  was  serving  at  table,  and  who  pleased  him  by  her 
modest  and  intelligent  air.  This  was  a  motherless  girl,  Natalia 
Narvchkine,  to  whom  her  uncle  Matveef  had  been  a  second 
father.  "  I  have  found  a  husband  for  her,"  said  the  Tzar  to 
INIatveef  some  days  after.  This  husband  was  the  Tzar  himself. 
The  marriage  drew  closer  still  the  ties  that  bound  him  to  Matveef. 
Now  the  latter  was,  like  Nachtchokine,  full  of  European  ideas. 
His  house  was  furnished  and  ornamented  according  to  Western 
notions.  His  chosen  guests  did  not  give  themselves  up  to  the 
orgies  authorized  by  national  custom  ;  they  behaved  as  courte- 
ously as  if  they  were  in  a  French  salon.  His  Scotch  wife,  a 
Hamilto.i  bv  birth,  was  the  onlv  ladv  of  the  Court  who  did  not 
paint  herself,  and,  instead  of  keeping  herself  secluded  in  her 
apartments,  took  part  in  the  conversation  of  men.  We  may  con- 
ceive the  influence  of  the  boyard  and  his  wife  on  their  adopted 
daughter  ;  and  is  it  surprising  that  Natalia  was  the  first  Russian 
princess  who  drew  back  the  curtains  of  her  litter,  and  allowed 
her  face  to  be  seen  by  her  subjects  ?  Matveef  protected  foreign 
artists, — "  masters  in  perspective  writings,"  as  they  were  called. 
In  the  German  Slobode  of  Moscow  he  established  a  sort  of 
dramatic  academy,  where  twenty-five  merchants'  sons  learnt 
to  act  comedies.  The  Tzar  acquired  a  taste  for  theatrical  enler- 
taiiunents.  Likatchof,  his  envoy  at  the  Court  of  Florence,  wrote 
to  his  sovereign  enthusiastic  letters  full  of  the  marvels  which  he 
had  seen  at  the  opera — of  palaces  which  came  and  went,  of  a 
sea  that  rose  and  fell  and  filled  itself  with  fish,  of  men  who  rode 
on  monsters  of  the  deep,  or  pursued  each  other  into  the  clouds. 


HIS  TORY  OF  K  L  'SSI A. 


287 


w/oscow  undertook  to  rival  Florence.  In  a  wooden  theatre, 
ballets  and  dramas,  adapted  from  the  Bible,  were  represented 
before  the  Tzar  :  'Joseph  sold  by  his  Brethren,'  'The  Prodigal 
Son,'  and  'Esther/  which  preceded  that  of  Racine  by  seventeen 
years.  At  Moscow,  as  at  St.  Cyr,  the  piece  gave  scope  to  many 
allusions.  Here  Esther  was  Natalia  Narychkine  ;  Mordecai  was 
Matvecf,  the  protector  of  her  youth  ;  and  the  vrcmuDuhtchik 
llaman,  who  was  hung  on  the  tchclobitid  of  Queen  I'^siher,  was, 
no  doubt,  Khitrovo,  the  former  favorite.  These  pieces  were  en- 
livened by  somewhat  rough  pleasantries.  In  '  Holofernes,'  when 
Judith  has  cut  ofif  the  head  of  the  Assyrian  voievode,  the  servant 
cries  "Here  is  a  poor  man  who  will  be  much  astonished,  on 
awaking,  to  find  his  head  carried  away  ! " 

During  this  reign,  when  Russia  was  trying  to  assimilate  her- 
self to  Europe,  diplomacy  naturally  took  rapid  strides.  Must  "^vy 
had  entered  into  more  or  less  close  relations  with  all  the  Cou.  ts 
of  the  West. 

In  1645,  Alexis  sent  Gerasimus  Doktourof  to  notify  his  ac- 
cession to  the  King  of  P'.ngland,  Charles  I.  The  Russian  envoy 
arrived  in  England  in  the  midst  of  the  Revolution.  Being  re- 
ceived at  Gravesend  with  great  honors  and  the  firing  of  guns  by 
the  company  of  mercliants  that  traded  with  Russia,  he  at  once 
inquired  "where  was  the  king?"  They  replied,  they  did  not 
know  exactly  where  he  was,  because  for  three  or  four  years  there 
had  been  a  great  civil  war,  and  instead  of  the  king  they  had  now 
the  Parliament,  composed  of  deputies  from  all  the  orders,  "who 
governed  London  as  well  as  the  kingdoms  of  England  and 
Scotland.  "  Our  war  with  the  king,"  said  the  merchants,  "  began 
for  the  sake  of  religion,  when  he  married  the  daughter  of  the 
King  of  France.  She,  being  a  Papist,  persuaded  the  king  into 
various  superstitious  practices ;  it  was  by  her  counsel  that  the 
king  instituted  archbishops  and  called  in  the  Jesuits.  Many 
people,  in  order  to  follow  the  examjile  of  the  king,  made  them- 
selves Papists  too.  Besides  this,  the  king  wished  to  govern  the 
kingdom  according  to  his  own  will,  as  do  the  sovereigns  of  other 
States.  But  here,  from  time  immemorial,  the  country  has  been 
free  :  the  early  kings  could  settle  nothing :  it  was  the  Parlia- 
ment, the  men  who  were  elected,  that  governed.  The  king 
began  to  rule  after  his  own  will,  but  the  Parliament  would  not 
allow  that,  and  many  archbishops  and  Jesuits  were  executed. 
The  king,  seeing  that  the  Parliament  intended  to  act  according 
to  its  own  wish,  as  it  had  done  from  all  time,  and  not  at  all  ac- 
cording to  the  royal  will,  left  London  with  the  queen,  without 
being  expelled  by  anyone,  saying  that  they  were  going  away  into 
other  towns.     Once  out  of  London,  he  sent  the  queen  to  France, 


288  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

and  began  to  fight  us,  but  the  Parliament  was  the  stronger. 
The  Parliament  is  composed  oiiwo palaty  (chambers)  :  in  one  of 
them  sit  the  boyards,  in  the  other  the  men  elected  by  the  com- 
mons— the  sloujilie  Hoiidi  and  the  merchants.  Five  hundred  men 
sit  in  the  parliament,  and  one  orator  speaks  for  all." 

These  1_  -ons  in  the  English  Constitution  could  not  penetrate 
the  brain  of  the  Russian  envoy.  He  only  recognized  the  king, 
and  persisted,  according  to  the  text  of  his  instructions,  in  trying 
to  deliver  his  letters  of  credit  to  the  king  himself.  "  Hast  ihou 
a  letter  from  thy  sovereign,  and  a  mission  to  the  Parliament  ?  '■ 
they  asked  him.  He  replied,  '"  I  have  neither  a  letter  nor  a 
mission  to  the  Parliament.  Let  the  Parliament  send  me  im- 
mediately before  the  king,  and  give  me  an  escort,  carriages,  and 
provisions.  Let  the  Parliament  present  me  to  him — it  is  to  him 
that  I  will  speak."  His  demand  was  naturally  refused,  and  he 
wished  instantly  to  leave  for  Holland,  but  this  was  not  allowed. 

The  following  year  Charles  L  was  brought  a  prisoner  into 
London.  Doktourof  insisted  on  being  presented  to  him.  His 
request  was  ill-timed.  "You  cannot  be  brought  before  him," 
they  said  to  him  ;  "  he  no  longer  governs  anything."  Doktourof 
then  refused  a  dinner  given  to  him  by  the  Russian  Company, 
and  only  yielded  when  the  dinner  was  served  at  his  own  house. 
The  Parliament,  however,  did  not  wish  to  interrupt  the  friendly 
relations  with  Russia. 

Doktourof  was  summoned  before  the  House  of  Lords  on  the 
13th  of  June.  At  his  entrance  all  the  "  boyards"  took  off  their 
hats,  and  Lord  Manchester,  the  "chief  boyard,"  rose.  Then 
Doktourof,  to  the  general  consternation,  made  the  following 
speech  : — "  I  am  sent  by  my  sovereign  to  your  king,  Charles 
King  of  England.  I  have  been  sent  as  a  courier  {gonets)  to 
negotiate  important  affairs  of  State,  which  offer  great  advantages 
to  both  sovereigns  and  to  all  Christendom,  and  may  help  to  main- 
tain peace  and  concord.  It  is  the  13th  of  June,  and,  since  I 
arrived  in  London  on  the  26th  of  November  last,  I  have  never 
ceased  to  show  vou  the  letter  of  the  Tzar  and  to  beg  vou  10 
allow  me  to  go  before  the  king.  You  have  kept  me  in  London 
without  permitting  me  either  to  have  an  interview  with  the  king 
or  to  return  to  the  Tzar;  and  yet  in  all  the  neighboring  countries 
the  route  is  free  to  all  ambassadors,  envoys,  and  couriers  of  the 
Izar. 

Manchester  replied  that  they  would  explain  to  the  Tzar  by 
letter  their  reasons  for  acting  thus.  They  gave  him  a  chair,  and 
the  English  "  boyards  "  likewise  seated  themselves;  and  he 
began  to  look  about  the  House,  of  which  he  gives  a  minute  de- 
scription in  his  report.     He  was  then  conducted  to  the  Plouse  of 


HISTOR  V  OF  KL'SS/A.  289 

Commons,  and  the  dignitaries  came  to  meet  him  preceded  by 
the  royal  sceptre.  He  renewed  his  decLirations,  and  then  re- 
tired ceremoniously.  In  June  1646  he  left  England  much  dis- 
contented. Alexis  could  understand  no  more  of  the  English 
Revolution  than  his  envoy.  He  maintained,  like  Catherine  H., 
die  cause  of  kings  against  the  liberty  of  the  subjects.  In  May 
1647  he  received  at  Moscow  Nawtingall,  envoy  of  Charles  I., 
f\ho  denounced  the  captivity  of  the  king,  and  said  Charles  would 
see  with  pleasure  the  English  Company  deprived  of  its  privileges, 
and  everyone  allowed  to  trade  freely  with  Russia.  Alexis 
listened  to  his  request,  and  granted  him,  as  aid  to  the  king  30,000 
tchdverts  of  corn,  out  of  the  300,000  that  were  asked  of  him. 
Bit  the  English  merchants  settled  in  Russia  accused  Nawiingall 
of  imposture,  saying  that  the  king's  letter  was  apocryphal,  and 
that  the  dog  he  had  brought  as  a  present  to  Alexis  had  never 
been  bought  by  Charles  I.  Nawtingall  was  expelled  in  disgrace, 
and  avenged  hnnself  by  accusing  his  compatriots  of  a  project  of 
attacking  Arkhangel,  and  of  pillaging  the  Russian  merchants. 
His  honors  as  ambassador  were  then  given  back  to  him,  but  he 
quitted  Russia. 

When  Alexis  heard  of  the  execution  of  Charles  I.,  he  published 
the  oukase  of  June  1649,  which,  as  a  punishment  to  the  regicides, 
forbade  the  English  merchants  to  live  in  the  cities  of  the  interior, 
and  confined  them  to  Arkhangel.  The  Tzar  furnished  help  in 
money  and  corn  to  Charles,  Prince  of  Wales,  who  in  1660  became 
Charles  II.,  and  resumed  relations  with  him  when  he  ascended 
the  throne  of  the  Stuarts. 

At  the  opening  of  the  war  with  Poland,  it  occurred  to  Alexis 
to  notify  the  fact  to  the  sovereigns  of  the  West.  In  1653  he 
sent  to 'Louis  XIV.  a  certain  Matchdkinc,  who  was  also  pr*. 
sented  to  Anne  of  Austria.  In  1668  Peter  Potemkine  was  ac- 
credited first  to  the  Court  of  Spain,  and  then  to  that  of  France. 
It  was  just  atter  the  Peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  and  it  was  not 
difificult  for  Russia  to  guess  that  the  war  would  soon  recom- 
mence. The  object  of  the  embassy  was  to  induce  Louis  XIV. 
to  enter  into  regular  relations  with  Russia,  and  to  send  French 
vessels  to  Arkhangel.  Potemkine  had  conferences  with  Colbert 
and  the  six  merchant  guilds  of  Paris.  But  the  results  of  this 
embassy  were  hardly  greater  than  those  of  the  preceding  one. 
The  account  of  Potemkine  containr,  some  curious  details  and 
quaint  reflections  on  the  Spain  and  Kiance  of  the  17th  century, 
but  is  chiefly  occupied  witU  aiincuUies  raised  by  him  on  que* 
tions  of  etiquette. 


sgo 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


REIGN   OF    FEODOR   ALEXIEVITCH   (1676-1682). 


On  the  death  of  Alexis,  his  eldest  son  Feodor  succeeded  to 
the  crown.  The  Miloslavskis,  Feodor's  maternal  relatives,  prof- 
ited by  his  accession  to  ruin  their  enemy,  Matv^^ef  who  was  ac- 
cused of  magic,  deprived  of  his  property  and  his  title  of  boyard, 
and  banished  to  Poustozersk.  In  this  reign  the  Little  Russian 
question  received  a  solution.  The  hetman  Samoilovitch  and 
Prince  Romodanoviski  defeated  Dorochenko,  and  obliged'  him 
to  resign  the  office  of  ataman.  They  then  had  to  fight  the  Turks 
and  Tatars,  who  twice  invaded  the  Ukraine  and  advanced  to 
Tchigirine. 

The  countr}-,  according  to  a  contemporary  account,  was  cov- 
ered with  ruined  towns  and  castles,  and  heaps  of  human  bones 
that  whitened  in  the  sun.  Finallv  the  Sultan  concluded  at 
Bakhtchi-Serai  a  truce  of  twenty  years,  which  ceded  to  Russia 
Zaporogia  and  the  Ukraine.  In  1681  Feodor  sent  a  new  em- 
bassy to  Louis  XIV. ;  his  envoy  being  the  son  of  the  old  Potem- 
kine,  who  managed,  according  to  the  diplomatic  historian  Flas- 
sans,  to  give  by  his  own  wisdom  and  learning  a  favorable  idea 
of  the  nation  which  he  represented. 

It  was  in  this  reign  that  an  assembly  was  held  of  the  higher 
clergy  and  the  boyards,  to  legislate  on  the  question  of  precedence 
{iniestnichestvd),  which  continued  to  be  one  of  the  plagues  of 
Russia.  The  assembly  commanded  that  there  should  be  no 
more  disputes,  and  in  its  presence  and  that  of  the  Tzar  the 
'  Books  of  Rank  '  were  solemnly  burnt.  In  future  whoever  "  dis- 
puted "  was  to  be  deprived  of  his  nobility  and  his  wealth. 

In  order  to  defend  the  orthodox  Church  against  the  heresies 
of  the  West,  and  to  connect  it  more  closely  with  the  Eastern 
Church,  Feodor  founded  the  Slavo-Grjeco- Latin  Academy  of 
Moscow.  Greek  and  Latin,  Christian  philosophy  and  theology, 
were  taught  there.  The  brothers  Likhoudi  were  brought  from 
Greece  to  be  professors  there.  This  school,  although  ecclesi- 
astical, was  an  advance  on  all  other  establishments  of  the  kind 
in  Russia,  and  produced  some  brilliant  pupils.  Among  them 
we  may  mention  the  mathematician  Magnitski  under  Peter  the 
Great,  and  the  historian  Bantych-Kamenski  and  the  Metropoli- 
tan Plato  under  Catharine  II.  The  school  was  afterwards  trans- 
ferred to  the  Monastery  of  Troitsa. 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


391 


CHAPTER  XXTT. 

PETER  THE  GREAT:  EARLY  YEARS  (1682-I709). 

Regency  of  Sophia  (16S2-16S9)— Peter  T. — Expeditions  against  Azof  (1695- 
1696)— First  journey  to  the  West  (1697)  —  Revolt  and  destruction  of  the 
streltsi  Contest  with  the  Cossacks  :    revolt  of  the  Don   (1706)  ;   Mazeppa 

(1709). 


REGENCY   OF   SOl'HIA   (1682-1689)    PETER   I. 

Alexis  Mikhailovitch  had  by  his  first  wife,  Maria  Milos- 
lavski,  two  sons  (Feodor  and  Ivan)  and  six  daughiers  ;  by  h5s 
second  wife  Natalia  Narvchkine,  one  son  (who  became  Peter  J  ) 
and  two  daughters.  As  he  was  twice  married,  and  the  kinsmen 
of  each  wife  had,  ac'crdin.*^  to  custom,  surrounded  the  throne, 
there  existed  two  factions  in  the  palace,  which  were  brought  face 
to  face  by  the  death  of  Feodor.  The  Miloslavskis  had  on  their 
side  the  claim  of  seniority,  the  number  of  royal  children  left  by 
Maria,  and  above  all,  the  fact  that  Ivan  was  the  elder  of  the  two 
surviving  sons ;  but  unluckily  for  them,  Ivan  was  notoriously  im- 
becile both  in  body  and  mind.  On  the  side  of  the  Narychkines 
was  the  interest  excited  by  the  precocious  intelligence  of  Peter, 
and  the  position  of  legal  head  of  all  the  royal  family,  which,  ac- 
cording to  Russian  law,  gave  to  Natalia  Narychkine  her  title  of 
"Tzarina  Dowager."  Both  factions  had  for  sometime  taken 
their  measures  and  recruited  their  partisans.  Who  should  suc- 
ceed Feodor  ?  Was  it  to  be  the  son  of  the  Miloslavski,  or  the 
son  of  the  Narychkine  ?  The  Miloslavskis  were  first  defeated 
on  legal  grounds.  Taking  the  incapacity  of  Ivan  into  consider- 
ation^ the  boyards  and  the  Patriarch  Joachim  proclaimed  the 
young  Peter,  then  nine  years  old,  Tzar.  The  Narychkines  tri- 
umphed: Natalia  became  Tzarina-Regent,  recalled  from  exile 
her  foster-father,  Matvdef,  and  surrounded  herself  by  her 
brothers  and  uncles. 

The  Miloslavskis'  only  means  of  revenge  lay  in  revolt,  but 
they  were  without  a  head ';  for  it  was  impossible  for  Ivan  to  lake 
the' lend.  The  eldest  of  his  six  sisters  was  thirty-two  years  of 
age,  the  youngest  nineteen  ;  the  most  energetic  of  them  was 


292 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


Sophia,  who  was  twenty-five.  These  six  princesses  saw  them, 
selves  condemned  to  the  dreary  destiny  of  the  Russian  tzareimi^ 
and  were  forced  to  renounce  all  hopes  of  marriage,  with  no 
prospects  but  to  grow  old  in  the  seclusion  of  ihe  iera/i,  subjected 
by  law  to  the  authority  of  a  stepmother.  All  their  youth  had  to 
look  forward  to  was  the  cloister.  They,  however,  only  breathed 
in  action  ;  and  though  imperial  etiquette  and  Byzantine  man- 
ners, prejudices,  and  traditions  forbade  them  to  appear  in 
public,  even  Byzantine  traditions  offered  them  models  to  follow. 
Had  not  Pulcheria,  daughter  of  an  emperor,  reigned  at  Constan- 
tinople in  the  name  of  her  brother,  the  incapable  Theodosius  "i 
Had  she  not  contracted  a  nominal  marriage  with  the  brave 
Marcian,  who  was  her  sword  against  the  barbarians  ?  Here 
was  the  ideal  that  Sophia  could  propose  to  herself;  to  be  a 
Tzardievitsa,  a  woman-emperor.  To  emancipate  herself  from 
the  rigorous  laws  of  the  terem,  to  force  the  "  twenty-seven  locks  " 
of  the  song,  to  raise  ihe./ata  that  covered  her  face,  to  appear  in 
public  and  meet  the  looks  of  men,  needed  both  energv,  cunning, 
and  patience  that  could  wait  and  be  content  to  proceed  by  suc- 
cessi\e  efforts.  Sophia's  first  step  was  to  appear  at  Feodor's 
funeral,  though  it  was  not  the  custom  for  any  but  the  widow  and 
the  heir  to  be  present.  There  her  litter  encountered  that  of 
Natalia  Narychkine,  and  her  presence  forced  the  Tzarina- 
Mother  to  retreat.  She  surrounded  herself  with  a  court  of  edu- 
cated men,  who  publicly  praised  her,  encouraged  and  excited 
her  to  action.  Simeon  Polotski  and  Silvester  Medviedef  wrote 
verses  in  her  honor,  recalled  to  her  the  example  of  Pulcheria 
and  Olga,  compared  her  to  the  virgin  Queen  Elizabeth  of  Eng- 
land, and  even  to  Semiramis  ;  we  might  think  we  were  listening 
to  Voltaire  addressing  Catherine  II.  They  played  on  her  name 
Sophia  (wisdom),  and  declared  she  had  been  endowed  with  the 
quality  as  well  as  the  title.  Polotski  dedicated  to  her  the 
'  Crown  of  Faith,'  and  Medvie'def  his  'Gifts  of  the  Holy  Spirit.' 
The  terc??i  offered  the  strangest  contrasts.  There  acted  they  the 
'  Malade  Imaginaire,'  and  the  audience  was  composed  of  the 
heterogeneous  assembly  of  popes,  monks,  nuns,  and  old  pen- 
sioners that  formed  the  Courts  of  the  ancient  Tzarinas.  In 
this  shifting  crowd  there  were  some  useful  instruments  of  in- 
trigue. The  old  pensioners,  while  telling  their  rosaries,  served 
as  emissaries  between  the  palace  and  the  town,  carried  mes- 
sages and  presents  to  the  turbulent  streltsi,  and  arranged 
matters  between  the  Tzarian  ladies  and  the  soldiers.  Sin- 
ister rumors  were  skilfully  disseminated  through  Moscow  : 
Feodor,  the  eldest  son  of  Alexis,  had  died,  the  victim  of  con- 
spirators ;  the  same  lot  was  doubtless  reserved  for  Ivan.     What 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA.  293 

was  to  become  of  the  poor  tzar/vni,  of  the  blood  of  kings  ?  At 
last  it  was  publicly  announced  ihat  a  brother  of  Natalia  Narych- 
kine  had  seized  the  crown  and  seated  himself  on  the  throne^ 
and  that  Ivan  had  been  strangled.  Love  and  pity  for  the  son 
of  Alexis,  and  the  indignation  excited  by  the  news  of  the  usurpa- 
tion, immediately  caused  the  people  of  Moscow  to  revolt,  and 
the  ringleaders  cleverly  directed  the  movement.  The  tocsin 
sounded  from  400  churches  of  the  "  holy  city  "  ;  the  regiments 
of  the  streltsi  took  up  arms  and  marched,  followed  by  an  im- 
mense crowd,  to  the  Kremlin,  with  drums  beating,  matches 
lighted,  and  dragging  cannon  behind  them.  Natalia  Narychkine 
had  only  to  show  herself  on  the  Red  Staircase,  accompanied  by 
her  son  Peter,  and  Ivan  who  was  reported  dead.  Their  mere 
appearance  sufficed  to  contradict  all  the  calumnies.  The 
streltsi  hesitated,  seeing  they  had  been  deceived.  A  clever  ha- 
rangue of  Matveef,  who  had  formerly  commanded  them,  and  the 
exhortations  of  the  Patriarch,  shook  them  further.  The  revolt 
was  almost  appeased;  the  Miloslavskis  had  missed  their  aim, 
for  they  had  not  yet  succeeded  in  putting  to  death  the  people  of 
whom  they  were  jealous.  Suddenly  Prince  Michael  Dolgorouki, 
chief  of  the  prikaz  of  the  streltsi,  began  to  insult  the  rioters 
in  the  most  violent  language.  This  ill-timed  harangue  awoke 
their  fury  ;  they  seized  Dolgorouki,  and  flung  him  from  the  top 
of  the  Red  Staircase  on  to  their  pikes.  They  stabbed  Matveef, 
under  the  eyes  of  the  Tzarina  ;  then  they  sacked  the  palace, 
murdering  all  who  fell  into  their  hands.  Athanasius  Narych- 
kine, a  brother  of  Natalia,  was  thrown  from  a  window  on  to  the 
points  of  their  lances.  The  following  day  the  e'meute  recom- 
menced ;  they  tore  from  the  arms  of  the  Tzarina  her  father 
Cyril,  and  her  brother  Ivan  ;  the  latter  was  tortured  and  sent 
into  a  monastery.  Historians  show  us  Sophia  interceded  for 
the  victims  on  her  knees,  but  an  understanding  between  the 
rebels  and  the  Tzar^vna  did  exist ;  the  streltsi  obeyed  orders. 
The  following  days  were  consecrated  to  the  purifying  of  the 
palace  and  the  administration,  and  tiie  seventh  day  of  the  revolt 
they  sent  their  commandant,  the  prince-boyard  Khovanski,  to 
declare  that  they  would  have  two  Tzars — Ivan  at  the  head,  and 
Peter  as  coadjutor;  and  if  this  were  refused,  they  would  again 
rebel.  The  boyards  of  the  douma  deliberated  on  this  proposal, 
and  the  greater  number  of  the  boyards  were  opposed  to  it.  In 
Russia  the  absolute  power  had  never  been  shared,  but  the 
orators  of  the  tercm  cited  many  examples  both  from  sacred  and 
profane  history  :  Pharaoh  and  Joseph,  Arcadius  and  Honorius, 
Basil  II.  and  Constantine  VIII.  ;  and  the  best  of  all  the  argu 
ments  were  the  pikes  of  the  streltsi  (1682). 


494  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

Sophia  had  triumphed  :  she  reigned  in  the  name  of  her  two 
brothers,  Ivan  and  Peter.  She  made  a  point  of  showing  herself 
in  pubhc,  at  processions,  solemn  services,  and  dedications  of 
churches.  At  the  Ouspienski  Sobor,  while  her  brothers  occupied 
the  place  of  the  Tzar,  she  filled  that  of  the  Tzarina  ;  only  she 
raised  the  curtains  and  boldly  allowed  herself  to  be  incensed  by 
the  Patriarch.  When  the  raskohiiks  Qh^^W^w^o.^  the  heads  of  the 
orthodox  Church  to  discussion,  she  wished  to  preside  and  hold 
the  meeting  in  the  open  air,  at  the  Lohnoe  Mie'sto  on  the  Red 
Place,  There  was  however  so  much  opposition,  that  she  was 
forced  to  call  the  assembly  in  the  Palace  of  Facets,  and  sat 
behind  the  throne  of  her  two  brothers,  present  though  invisible. 
The  double-seated  throne  used  on  those  occasions  is  still  pre- 
served at  Moscow  ;  there  is  an  opening  in  the  back,  hidden  by 
a  veil  of  silk,  and  behind  this  sat  Sophia.  This  singular  piece 
of  furniture  is  the  symbol  of  a  government  previously  un- 
known to  Russia,  composed  of  two  visible  Tzars  and  one  in- 
visible sovereign. 

The  strcltsi,  however,  felt  their  prejudices  against  female 
sovereignty  awaken.  They  shrank  from  the  contempt  heaped 
by  the  Tzarevna  upon  the  ancient  manners,  Sophia  had  already 
become  in  their  eyes  a  "scandalous  person"  {pozorfioe  iiizo). 
Another  cause  of  misunderstanding  was  the  support  she  gave  to 
the  State  Church,  as  reformed  by  Nicon,  while  the  streltsi  and 
the  greater  part  of  the  people  held  to  the  "  old  f^iith."  She 
had  arrested  certain  "old  believers,"  who  at  the  discussion  in 
the  Palace  of  Facets,  had  challenged  the  patriarchs  and  ortho- 
dox prelates,  and  she  had  caused  the  ringleader  to  be  exe- 
cuted. Khovanski,  chief  of  the  streltsi,  whether  from  sympathy 
with  the  7-askol,  or  whether  he  wished  to  please  his  subordi- 
nates, affected  to  share  their  discontent.  The  Court  no  longer 
felt  itself  safe  at  Moscow.  Sophia  took  refuge  with  the 
Tzarina  and  the  two  young  princes  in  the  fortified  monastery  of 
Troitsa,  and  summoned  around  her  the  gentlcmen-at-arms. 
Khovanski  was  invited  to  attend,  was  arrested  on  the  way,  and 
put  to  death  with  his  son.  The  streltsi  attempted  a  new  rising, 
but,  with  the  usual  fickleness  of  a  popular  militia,  suddenly  passed 
from  the  extreme  of  insolence  to  the  extreme  of  humility.  They 
marched  to  Troitsa,  this  time  in  the  guise  of  suppliants,  with 
cords  round  their  necks,  carrying  axes  and  blocks  for  the  death 
they  expected.  The  Patriarch  consented  to  intercede  for  them, 
and  Sophia  contented  herself  with  the  sacrifice  of  the  ring- 
leaders. 

Sophia,  having  got  rid  of  her  accomplices,  governed  by  aid  of 
her  two  favorites — Chaklovity,  the  new  commandant  of  the  streltsi, 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


29s 


whom  she  had  drawn  from  obscurity,  and  who  was  completely 
devoted  to  her,  and  Prince  Vassili  Galitsyne.  Galitsyne  has 
become  the  hero  of  an  historic  school  which  opposes  his  genius 
to  that  of  Peter  the  Great,  in  the  same  way  as  in  France  Henry, 
Duke  of  Guise,  has  been  exalted  at  the  expense  of  Henry  IV. 
He  was  the  special  favorite,  the  intimate  friend  of  Sophia,  the 
director  of  her  foreign  policy,  and  her  right  hand  in  military  affairs. 
Soi^hia  and  Galitsvne  labored  to  organize  a  Holv  League  between 
Russia,  Poland,  Venice  and  Austria  against  the  Turks  and  Tatars. 
They  also  tried  to  gain  the  countenance  of  the  Catholic  Powers 
of  the  West ;  and  in  1687  Jacob  Dolgorouki  and  Jacob  Mychetski 
disembarked  at  Dunkirk,  as  envoys  to  the  Court  of  Louis  XIV. 
They  were  not  received  very  favorably :  the  King  of  France  was 
not  at  all  inclined  to  make  war  against  the  Turks  ;  he  was,  on 
the  other  hand,  the  ally  of  Mahomet  IV.,  who  was  about  to  besiege 
Vienna  while  Louis  blockaded  Luxemburg.  The  whole  plan  of 
the  campaign  was,  however,  thrown  out  by  the  intervention  of 
Russia  and  John  Sobieski  in  favor  of  Austria.  The  Russian 
ambassadors  received  orders  to  re-embark  at  Havre,  without 
going  further  south. 

The  government  of  the  Tzare'vna  still  persisted  in  its  warlike 
projects.  In  return  for  an  active  co-operalion  against  the  Otto- 
mans, Poland  had  consented  to  ratify  the  conditions  of  the  Treaty 
of  Androussovo,  and  to  sign  a  peri)eiual  peace  (1686).  A  hun- 
dred thousand  Muscovites,  under  the  command  of  Prince  Galit- 
syne, and  fifty  thousand  Little  Russian  Cossacks,  under  the 
orders  of  the  hetman  Samoilovitch,  marched  against  the  Crimea 
(1687),  The  army  suffered  greatly  in  the  southern  steppes,  as 
the  Tat27S  had  fired  the  grassy  plains.  Galitsyne  was  forced  to 
return  without  having  encountered  the  enemy.  Samoilovitch 
was  accused  of  treason,  deprived  of  his  command,  and  sent  to 
Siber.a;  and  Mazeppa,  who  owed  to  Samoilovitch  his  appoint- 
men*.  as  Secretary-at-war,  and  whose  denunciations  had  chiefly 
con'.ributed  to  his  downfall,  was  appointed  his  successor.  In  the 
spring  of  1689  the  Muscovite  and  Ukranian  armies,  commanded 
bv  Galitsyne  and  Mazeppa,  ai;ain  set  out  for  the  Crimea. 
'I  he  second  expedition  was  hardly  more  fortunate  than  the  first : 
they  got  as  far  as  Perekop,  and  were  then  obliged  to  retreat  with- 
out even  having  taken  the  fortress.  This  double  defeat  did  not 
hinder  Sophia  from  preparing  for  her  favorite  a  triumphal  entry 
into  Moscow.  In  vain  Peter  forbade  her  to  leave  the  palace  ; 
she  braved  his  displeasure  and  headed  the  procession,  accom- 
panied by  llie  clergy  and  the  imnges  and  followed  by  the  army 
of  the  Crimea,  admitted  the  generals  to  kiss  her  hand,  and  distri- 
buted glasses  of  brandy  among  the  officers.    Peter  left  Moscow 


296  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

in  anger,  and  retired  to  the  village  of  Preobrajensko^.  The 
foreign  policy  of  the  Tzarevna  was  marked  by  another  display 
of  weakness.  By  the  Treaty  of  Nertchinsk,  she  restored  to  the 
Chinese  Empire  the  fertile  regions  of  the  Amour,  which  had 
been  conquered  by  a  handful  of  Cossacks,  and  razed  the  fortress 
of  Albazine,  where  those  adventurers  had  braved  all  the  forces 
of  the  East.  On  all  sides  Russia  seemed  to  retieat  before  the 
barbarians. 

Meantime  Peter  was  growing.  His  precocious  faculties,  his 
quick  intelligence,  and  his  strong  will  awakened  alike  the  hopes 
of  his  partisans  and  the  fears  of  his  enemies.  As  a  child  he 
only  loved  drums,  swords,  and  muskets.  He  learned  history  by 
means  of  colored  prints  brought  from  Germany.  Zotof,  his 
master,  whom  he  afterwards  made  "  the  archpope  of  fools," 
taught  him  to  read.  Among  the  heroes  held  up  to  him  as  examples, 
we  are  not  surprised  to  find  Ivan  the  Terrible,  whose  character 
and  position  offer  so  much  analogy  to  his  own.  "When  the 
Tzarevitch  was  tired  of  reading,"  says  M.  Zabidline,  "  Zotof  took 
the  book  from  his  hand,  and,  to  amuse  him,  would  himself  read 
the  great  deeds  of  his  father,  Alexis  Mikhailovitch,  and  those  of 
the  Tzar  Ivan  Vassilievitch,  their  campaigns,  their  distant  expe- 
ditions, their  battles  and  sieges  :  how  they  endured  fatigues  and 
privations  better  than  any  common  soldier  ;  what  benefits  they 
had  conferred  on  the  empire,  and  how  they  extended  the  fron- 
tiers of  Russia."  Peter  also  learnt  Latin,  German,  and  Dutch. 
He  read  much  and  widely,  and  learnt  a  great  deal,  though  with- 
out method.  Like  Ivan  the  Terrible,  he  was  a  self-taught  man. 
He  afterwards  complained  of  not  having  been  instructed  accord- 
ing to  rule.  This  was  perhaps  a  good  thing.  His  education, 
like  that  of  Ivan  IV.,  was  neglected,  but  at  least  he  was  not  sub- 
jected to  the  enervating  influence  of  the  tcrem — he  was  not  cast 
in  that  dull  mould  which  turned  out  so  many  idiots  in  the  royal 
family.  He  "  roamed  at  large,  and  wandered  in  the  streets  with 
his  comrades."  The  streets  of  Moscow  at  that  period  were, 
according  to  M.  Zabieline,  the  worst  school  of  profligacy  and 
debauchery  that  can  be  imagined  ;  but  they  were,  on  the  whole, 
less  bad  for  Peter  than  the  palace.  He  met  there  something 
besides  mere  jesters  ;  he  encountered  new  elements  which  had 
as  yet  no  place  in  the  tercni,  but  contained  the  germ  of  the  re- 
generation of  Russia.  He  came  across  Russians  who,  if  un- 
scrupulous, were  also  unprejudiced,  and  who  could  aid  him  in 
his  bold  reform  of  the  ancient  society.  He  there  became  ac- 
quainted with  Swiss,  English,  and  German  adventurers—  with 
Lefort,  with  Gordon,  and  with  Timmermann,  who  initiated  him 
into  European  civilization.     His  Court  was  composed  of  Lcq 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


297 


Narychkine,  of  Boris  Galitsyne  ( who  had  undertaken  never  to 
flatter  him),  of  Andrew  Malvdef  (who  had  marked  taste  fcjt 
everything  European),  and  of  Dolgorouki,  at  whose  house  he 
first  saw  an  astrolabe.  He  played  at  soldiers  with  his  young 
friends  and  his  grooms,  and  formed  them  into  the  "  battalion  of 
playmates,"  who  manoeuvred  after  the  European  fashion,  and 
became  the  kernel  of  the  future  regular  army.  He  learnt  the 
elements  of  geometry  and  fortification,  and  constructed  small 
citadels,  which  he  took  or  defended  with  his  young  warriors  in 
those  fierce  battles  which  sometimes  counted  their  wounded  or 
dead,  and  in  which  the  Tzar  of  Russia  w'as  not  always  spared. 
An  English  boat  stranded  on  the  shore  of  Yaousa  caused  him  to 
send  for  Franz  Timmermann,  who  taught  him  to  manage  a  sail- 
ing boat,  even  with  a  contrary  wind.  He  who  formerly,  like  a 
true  boyard  of  Moscow,  had  such  a  horror  of  the  water  that  he 
could  not  make  up  his  mind  to  cross  a  bridge,  became  a  deter- 
mined sailor :  he  guided  his  boat  first  on  the  Yaousa,  then  on 
the  lake  of  Pere'iaslavl.  Brandt,  the  Dutchman,  built  him  a 
whole  flotilla;  and  already,  in  spite  of  the  terrors  of  his  mother, 
Natalia,  Peter  dreamed  of  the  sea. 

"  The  child  is  amusing  himself,"  the  courtiers  of  Sophia 
affected  to  observe  ;  but  these  amusements  disquieted  her.  Each 
day  added  to  the  years  of  Peter  seemed  to  bring  her  nearer  to  the 
cloister.  In  vain  she  proudly  called  herself  "  autocrat  "  ;  she 
saw  her  stepmother,  her  rival,  lifting  up  her  head.  Galitsyne 
confined  himself  to  regretting  that  they  had  not  known  better 
how  to  profit  by  the  revolution  of  1682,  but  Chaklovity,  who 
knew  he  must  fall  with  his  mistress,  said  aloud,  *'  It  would  be 
wiser  to  put  the  Tzarina  to  death  than  to  be  put  to  death  b}' 
her."  Sophia  could  only  save  herself  by  seizing  the  throne — but 
who  would  help  her  to  take  it  ?  The  streltsi  ?  But  the  result 
of  their  last  rising  had  chilled  them  considerably.  Sophia  her- 
self, while  trying  to  bind  this  formidable  force,  had  broken  it, 
and  the  streltsi  had  not  forgotten  their  chiefs  beheaded  at 
Troitsa.  Now  what  did  the  emissaries  of  Sophia  propose  to 
them  ?  Again  to  attack  the  palace  ;  to  put  Leo  Narychkine. 
Boris  Galitsyne,  and  other  partisans  of  Peter  to  death  ;  to  arrest 
his  mother,  and  to  expel  the  Patriarch.  They  trusted  that  Peter 
and  Natalia  would  perish  in  the  tumult.  The  streltsi  remained 
indifTerent  when  Sophia,  affecting  to  think  her  life  threatened, 
fled  to  the  Dievitchi  Monastyr,  and  sent  them  letters  of  entreaty. 
"  If  thy  days  are  in  peril."  tranquilly  replied  the  streltsi,  "  there 
must  be  an  inquiry."  Chaklovity  could  hardly  collect  four  hun- 
dred of  them  at  the  Kremlin. 

The  struggle  began  between  Moscow  and  Preobrajensko^, 


298  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

the  village  with  the  prophetical  name  (the  Transfiguration  OT 
Kegeneratioii).  Two  streltsi  warned  Peter  of  the  plots  of  his 
sister,  and,  for  the  second  time,  he  sought  an  asylum  at  Troitsa. 
It  was  then  seen  who  was  the  true  Tzar  ;  all  men  hastened  to 
range  themselves  around  him  :  his  mother,  his  armed  squires, 
the  "  battalion  of  playmates,"  the  foreign  officers,  and  even  the 
streltsi  of  the  regiment  of  Soukharef.  The  Patriarch  also  took 
the  side  of  the  Tzar,  and  brought  him  moral  support,  as  the 
foreign  soldiers  had  brought  him  material  force.  The  partisans 
of  Sophia  were  cold  and  irresolute  ;  the  streltsi  themselves  de- 
manded that  her  favorite  Chaklovity  should  be  surrendered  to 
the  Tzar.  She  had  to  implore  the  mediation  of  the  Patriarch. 
Chaklovity  was  first  put  to  the  torture  and  made  to  confess  his 
plot  against  the  Tzar,  and  then  decapitated.  Medviedef  was  at 
first  only  condemned  to  the  knout  and  banishment  for  heresy, 
but  he  acknowledged  he  had  intended  to  take  the  place  of  the 
Patriarch  and  to  marry  Sophia  ;  he  was  dishonored  by  being  im- 
prisoned with  two  sorcerers  condemned  to  be  burned  alive  in  a 
cage,  and  was  afterwards  beheaded.  Galitsyne  was  deprived  of 
his  property,  and  exiled  to  Poustozersk.  Sophia  remained  in 
the  Dievitchi  Afouastyr,  subjected  to  a  hard  captivity.  Though 
Ivan  continued  to  reign  conjointly  with  his  brother,  yet  Peter, 
who  was  then  only  seventeen,  governed  alone,  surrounded  by 
his  mother,  the  Narychkines,  the  Dolgoroukis,  and  Boris  Galit- 
syne (1680). 

Sophia  had  freed  herself  from  the  seclusion  of  the  terem,  as 
Peter  had  emancipated  himself  from  the  seclusion  of  the  palace 
to  roam  the  streets  and  navigate  rivers.  Both  had  behaved 
scandalously,  according  to  the  ideas  of  the  time — the  one  ha- 
ranguing soldiers,  presiding  over  councils,  walking  with  her  veil 
raised  ;  the  other  using  the  axe  like  a  carpenter,  rowing  like  a 
Cossack,  brawling  with  foreign  adventurers,  and  fighting  with 
his  grooms  in  mimic  battles.  But  to  the  one  her  emancipation 
was  only  a  means  of  obtaining  power  ;  to  the  other  the  eman- 
cipation of  Russia,  like  the  emancipation  of  himself,  was  the 
end.  He  wished  the  nation  to  shake  off  the  old  trammels  from 
which  he  had  freed  himself.  Sophia  remained  a  Byzantine, 
Peter  aspired  to  be  a  European.  In  the  conflict  between  the 
Tzarevna  and  the  Tzar,  progress  was  not  on  the  side  of  the 
Dtdvitchi  Monaster, 


inSTORV  OF  RUSSIA. 


299 


EXPEDITIONS    AGAINST    AZOF    (1695-1696)  —  FIRST   JOURNEY    TO 

THE   WEST   (1697). 

The  first  use  the  Tzar  made  of  his  liberty  was  to  hasten  to 
Arkhangel.  There,  deaf  to  the  advice  and  prayers  of  his  mother, 
who  was  astounded  at  this  unexpected  taste  for  salt  water,  he 
jrazed  on  that  sea  which  not  Tzar  had  ever  looked  on.  He  ate 
with  the  merchants  and  the  officers  of  foreign  navies ;  he  breath- 
ed the  air  which  had  come  from  the  West.  He  established  a 
dockyard,  built  boats,  dared  the  angry  waves  of  this  unknown 
ocean,  and  almost  perished  in  a  storm,  which  did  not  prevent 
the  "  skipper  Peter  Alexie'vitch  "  from  again  putting  to  sea,  and 
bringing  the  Dutch  vessels  back  to  the  Holy  Cape.  Unhappily, 
the  White  Sea,  by  which,  since  the  time  of  Ivan  IV.,  the  Eng- 
lish had  entered  Russia,  is  frostbound  in  winter.  In  order  to 
open  permanent  communications  with  the  West,  with  civilized 
countries,  it  was  necessary  for  Peter  to  establish  himself  on  the 
Baltic  or  the  Black  Sea.  Now  the  first  belonged  to  the  Swedes, 
and  the  second  to  the  Turks,  as  the  Caspian  did  to  the  Per- 
sians. Who  was  first  to  be  attacked  ?  The  treaties  concluded 
with  Poland  and  Austria,  as  well  as  policy  and  religion,  urged 
the  Tzar  against  the  Turks,  and  Constantinople  has  always  been 
the  point  of  attraction  for  orthodox  Russia.  Peter  shared  the 
sentiments  of  his  people,  and  had  the  enthusiasm  of  a  crusader 
against  the  infidel.  Notwithstanding  his  ardent  wish  to  travel 
in  the  West,  he  took  the  resolution  not  to  appear  in  foreign 
lands  till  he  could  appear  as  a  victor.  Twice  had  Galitsyne 
failed  against  the  Crimea  ;  Peter  determined  to  attack  the  bar- 
barians by  the  Don,  and  besiege  Azof.  The  army  was  com- 
manded by  three  generals,  Golovine,  Gordon,  and  Lefort,  who 
were  to  act  with  the  "  bombardier  of  the  Preobrajenski  regi- 
ment, Peter  Alexievitch."  This  regiment,  as  well  as  three 
others  which  had  sprung  from  the  "  amusements  "  of  Preo- 
brajenskoe — the  Semenovski,  the  Botousitski,  and  the  regiment 
of  Lefort — were  the  heart  of  the  expedition.  It  failed  because 
the  Tzar  had  no  fleet  with  which  to  invest  Azof  by  sea,  because 
the  new  army  and  its  chiefs  wanted  experience,  and  because 
Jansen,  the  German  engineer,  ill-treated  by  Peter,  passed  over 
to  the  enemy.  After  two  assaults,  the  siege  was  raised.  This 
check  appeared  the  more  grave  because  the  Tzar  himself  was 
with  the  army,  because  the  first  attempt  to  turn  from  the  "  amuse- 
ments "  of  Preobrajenskoe  to  serious  warfare  had  failed,  and 
because  this  failure  would  furnish  arms  against  innovations, 
against  the   Germans  and  the  heretics,  against  the  new  tactics. 


3«jO  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

Il  might  even  compromise,  in  the  eyes  of  the  people,  the  work 
of  regeneration  (1695). 

Although  Peter  had  followed  the  example  of  Galitsyne,  and 
entered  Moscow  in  triumph,  he  felt  he  needed  revenge.  He 
sent  for  good  officers  from  foreign  countries.  Artillerymen 
arrived  from  Holland  and  Austria,  engineers  from  Prussia,  and 
Admiral  Lima  from  Venice.  Peter  hurried  on  the  creation  of  a 
fleet  with  feverish  impatience.  He  built  of  green  wood  twentv- 
two  galleys,  a  hundred  rafts,  and  seventeen  hundred  boats  or 
barks.  All  the  small  ports  of  the  Don  were  metamorphosed 
into  dockyards ;  twenty-six  thousand  workmen  were  assembled 
there  from  all  parts  of  the  empire.  It  was  like  the  camp  of 
Boulogne.  No  misfortune — neither  the  desertion  of  the  laborers, 
the  burnings  of  the  dockyards,  nor  even  his  own  illness — could 
lessen  his  activity.  Peter  was  able  to  write  that,  "  following  the 
advice  God  gave  to  Adam,  he  earned  his  bread  by  the  sweat  of 
his  brow.''  At  last  the  "  marine  caravan,"  the  Russian  armada, 
descended  the  Don.  From  the  slopes  of  Azof  he  wrote  to  bis 
sister  Natalia  :  *  "  In  obedience  to  thy  counsels,  I  do  not  go  to 
meet  the  shells  and  balls  ;  it  is  they  who  approach  me,  but  tolera- 
bly courteously."  Azof  was  blockaded  by  sea  and  land,  and  a 
breach  was  opened  by  the  engineers.  Preparations  were  being 
made  for  a  general  assault,  when  the  place  capitulated.  The 
joy  in  Russia  was  great,  and  the  sfreltsPs  jealousy  of  the  success 
of  foreign  tactics  gave  place  to  their  enthusiasm  as  Christians 
for  this  victory  over  Islamisrn,  which  recalled  those  of  Kazan 
and  Astrakhan.  The  effect  produced  on  Europe  was  consider- 
able. At  Warsaw  the  people  shouted,  "  Long  live  the  Tzar  !  " 
The  army  entered  Moscow  under  triumphal  arches,  on  which 
were  represented  Hercules  trampling  a  pacha  and  two  Turks 
under  foot,  and  Mars  throwing  to  the  earth  a  mourza  and  two 
Tatars.  Admiral  Lefort  and  Schein  the  generalissimo  took 
part  in  the  cortege,  seated  on  magnificent  sledges  ;  whilst  Peter, 
pronrioted  to  the  rank  of  Captain,  followed  on  foot.  Jansen, 
destined  to  the  gibbet,  marched  among  the  prisoners  (1676). 

Peter  wished  to  profit  by  this  great  success  to  found  the 
naval  power  of  Russia.  By  the  decision  of  the  douma  three 
thousand  families  were  established  at  Azof,  besides  four  hundred 
Kalmucks,  and  a  garrison  of  Moscow  streltsi.  The  Patriarch, 
the  prelates,  and  the  monasteries  taxed  themselves  for  the  con- 
struction of  one  vessel  to  every  eight  thousand  serfs.  The 
nobles,  the  officials,  and  the  merchants  were  seized  with  the 
fever  of  this  holy  war,  and  brought  their  contributions  towards 

*  His  mother  died  in  1694,  his  brother  Ivan  in  1696. 


PETER  THE  GREAT. 


HISTOR  Y  OF  KU-SSTA.  301 

the  infant  navy.  It  was  proposed  to  unite  the  Don  and  the  Volga 
by  means  of  a  canal.  A  new  appeal  was  made  to  the  artisans 
and  sailors  of  Europe.  Fifty  young  nobles  of  the  Court  were 
sent  to  Venice,  England,  and  'the  Low  Countries,  to  learn  sea- 
manship and  shipbuilding.  But  it  was  necessary  that  the  Tzar 
himself  should  be  able  to  judge  of  the  science  of  his  subjects  ; 
he  must  counteract  Russian  indolence  and  prejudice  by  the 
force  of  a  great  example  ;  and  Peter,  after  having  begun  his 
career  in  the  navy  at  the  rank  of  "  skipper,"  and  in  the  army  at 
that  of  bombardier,  was  to  become  a  carpenter  of  Saardam. 
He  allowed  himself,  as  a  reward  for  his  success  at  Azof,  the 
much  longed-for  journey  to  the  West. 

In  1697  Admiral  Lefort  and  Generals  Golovine  and  Vosnit- 
syne  prepared  to  depart  for  the  countries  of  the  West,  under  the 
title  of  "  the  great  ambassadors  of  the  Tzar."  Their  suite  was 
composed  of  two  hundred  and  seventy  persons — young  nobles, 
soldiers,  interpreters,  merchants,  jesters,  and  buffoons.  In  the 
cortege  \sz.-i  a  young  man  who  went  by  the  name  of  Peter  Mi- 
khailof.  This  incognito  would  render  the  position  of  the  Tzar 
easier,  whether  in  his  own  personal  studies  or  in  delicate  nego- 
tiations. On  the  journey  to  Riga,  Peter  allowed  himself  to  be 
insulted  by  the  governor,  but  laid  up  the  recollection  for  future 
use.  At  Konigsburg  the  Prussian  Colonel  Sternfeld  delivered 
to  "  M.  Peter  Mikhailof "  "  a  formal  brevet  of  master  of  artil- 
lery." The  great  ambassadors  and  their  travelling  companion 
were  cordially  received  by  the  Courts  of  Courland,  Hanover, 
and  Brandenburg.  Sophia  Charlotte  of  Hanover,  afterwards 
Queen  of  Prussia,  has  left  us  some  curious  notes  about  the  Tzar, 
then  twenty-seven  year's  of  age.  He  astonished  her  by  the 
vivacity  of  his  mind,  and  the  promptitude  and  point  of  his  an- 
swers, not  less  than  by  the  grossness  of  his  manners,  his  bad 
habits  at  table,  his  wild  timidity,  like  that  of  a  badly  brought-up 
child,  his  grimaces,  and  a  frightful  twitching  which  at  times  con- 
vulsed his  whole  face.  Peter  had  then  a  beautiful  brown  skin, 
with  great  piercing  eyes,  but  his  features  already  bore  traces 
of  toil  and  debauchery.  "  He  must  have  very  good  and  very 
bad  points,"  said  the  young  Electress  ;  and  in  this  he  repre- 
sented contemporary  Russia.  "  If  he  had  received  a  better 
education,"  adds  the  princess,  "  he  would  have  been  an  accom- 
plished man."  The  suite  of  the  Tzar  were  not  less  surprising 
than  their  master;  the  Muscovites  danced  with  the  Court  ladies, 
and  took  the  stiffening  of  their  corsets  for  their  bones.  "The 
bones  of  these  Germans  are  devilish  hard  !  "  said  the  Tzar. 

Leaving  the  great  embassv  on  the  road,  Peter  travelled 
quickly,  and  reached  Saardam.     The  very  day  of  his  arrival  he 


^02  HISTOR  V  OF  RUSSIA. 

took  a  lodging  at  a  blacksmith's,  procured  himself  a  complete 
costume  like  those  worn  by  Dutch  workmen,  and  began  to  wield 
the  axe.  He  bargained  for  a  boat,  bought  it,  and  drank  the  tra- 
ditional pint  of  beer  with  its  owner.  He  visited  cutleries,  rope- 
walks,  and  other  manufactories,  and  everywhere  tried  his  hand 
at  the  work :  in  a  paper  manufactory  he  made  some  paper. 
However,  in  spite  of  the  tradition,  he  only  remained  eight  days 
at  Saardam.  At  Amsterdam  his  eccentricities  were  no  less  as- 
tonishing. He  neither  took  any  rest  himself,  nor  allowed  others 
to  do  so  ;  he  exhausted  all  h.\s  ciceroni,  always  repeating,  "  I  must 
see  it."  He  inspected  the  most  celebrated  anatomical  collec- 
tions ;  engaged  artists,  workmen,  officers,  and  engineers  ;  and 
bought  models  of  ships,  and  collections  of  naval  laws  and  trea- 
ties.  He  entered  familiarly  the  houses  of  private  individuals, 
gained  the  good  will  of  the  Dutch  by  his  bonhomie,  penetrated 
into  the  recesses  of  the  shops  and  stalls,  and  remained  lost  in 
admiration  over  a  dentist. 

But,  amidst  all  these  distractions,  he  never  lost  sight  of  his 
aim.  "  We  labor,"  he  wrote  to  the  Patriarch  Adrian,  *'  in  order 
thoroughly  to  master  the  art  of  the  sea  ;  so  that,  having  once  learnt 
it,  we  may  return  to  Russia  and  conquer  the  enemies  of  Christ, 
and  free  by  his  grace  the  Christians  who  are  oppressed.  This  is 
what  I  shall  long  for,  to  my  last  breath."  He  was  vexed  at  mak- 
ing so  little  progress  in  shipbuilding,  but  in  Holland  everyone 
had  to  learn  by  personal  experience.  A  naval  captain  told  him 
that  in  England  instruction  was  based  on  principles,  and  these 
he  could  learn  in  four  months;  so  Peter  crossed  the  sea,  and 
spent  three  months  in  London  and  the  neighboring  towns. 
There  he  took  into  his  service  goldsmiths  and  gold-beaters, 
architects  and  bombardiers.  He  then  returned  to  Holland, 
and,  his  ship  being  attacked  by  a  violent  tempest,  he  reassured 
those  who  trembled  for  his  safetv  bv  the  remark,  "  Did  vou  ever 
hear  of  a  Tzar  of  Russia  who  was  drowned  in  the  North  Sea  ? " 
Though  much  occupied  with  his  technical  studies,  he  had  not 
neglected  policy  ;  he  had  conversed  with  William  HI,  but  did 
not  visit  France  in  this  tour,  for  "  Louis  XIV.,"  says  St.  Simon, 
"had  procured  the  postponement  of  his  visit ;"  the  fact  being 
that  his  alliance  with  the  Emperor,  and  his  wars  with  the  Turks, 
were  looked  on  with  disfavor  at  Versailles.  He  went  to  Vienna 
to  study  the  miliiary  art,  and  dissuaded  Leopold  from  making 
peace  with  the  Sultan.  Peter  wished  to  conquer  Kertch  in  order 
to  secure  the  Straits  of  lenikale.  He  was  preparing  to  go  to 
Venice,  when  vexatious  intelligence  reached  him  from  Moscow 


mS  TOR  Y  OF  K  USSIA.  .  03 

REVOLT  AND  DESTRUCTION  OF  THE  STRELTSI. 

The  first  reforms  of  Peter,  his  first  attempts  against  the  na- 
tional prejudices  and  customs,  had  raised  him  up  a  crowd  ot 
enemies.  Old  Russia  did  not  allow  herself  quietly  to  be  set  aside 
by  the  bold  innovator.  There  was  in  the  interior  a  sullen  and 
resolute  resistance,  which  sometimes  gave  birth  to  bloody  scenes. 
The  revolt  of  the  streltsi,  the  insurrection  of  Astrakhan,  the  re- 
bellion of  the  Cossacks,  and  later  the  trial  of  his  son  and  first 
wife,  are  only  episodes  of  the  great  struggle.  Already  the 
priests  were  teaching  that  Antichrist  was  born.  Now  it  had 
been  prophesied  that  Antichrist  should  be  born  of  an  adulteress, 
and  Peter  was  the  son  of  the  second  wife  of  Alexis,  therefore  his 
mother  Natalia  was  the  "false  virgin,"  the  adulterous  woman  of 
the  prophecies.  The  increasingly  heavy  taxes  that  weighed  on 
the  people  were  another  sign  that  the  time  had  come.  Others, 
disgusted  by  the  taste  shown  by  the  Tzar  for  German  clothes  and 
foreign  languages  and  adventurers,  affirmed  that  he  was  not  the 
son  of  Alexis,  but  of  Lefort  the  Genevan,  or  that  his  father  was 
a  German  surgeon.  They  were  scandalized  to  see  the  Tzar,  like 
another  Gregory  Otre'pief,  expose  himself  to  blows  in  his  military 
"amusements."  The  lower  orders  were  indignant  at  the  aboli- 
tion of  the  long  beards  and  national  costume,  and  the  raskobiiks 
at  the  authorization  of  "  the  sacrilegious  smell  of  tobacco." 
The  journey  to  the  West  completed  the  general  dissatisfaction. 
Had  anyone  ever  before  seen  a  Tzar  of  Moscow  quit  Holy  Rus- 
sia to  wander  in  the  kingdoms  of  foreigners  ?  Who  knew  what 
adventures  might  befall  him  among  the  nie'misi  and  the  bousour- 
mancs  ?  for  the  Russian  people  hardly  knew  how  to  distinguish 
between  the  Turks  and  the  Germans,  and  were  wholly  ignorant 
of  France  and  England.  Under  an  unknown  sky,  at  the  extrem- 
ity of  the  world,  on  the  shores  of  the  "  ocean  sea,"  what  dangers 
might  he  not  encounter  }  Then  a  singular  legend  was  invented 
about  the  travels  of  the  Tzar.  It  was  said  that  he  went  to  Stock- 
holm disguised  as  a  merchant,  and  that  the  queen  had  recog- 
nized him,  and  had  tried  in  vain  to  capture  him.  According  to 
another  version,  she  had  plunged  him  in  a  dungeon,  and  deliv- 
ered him  over  to  his  enemies,  who  wished  to  put  him  into  a  cask 
lined  with  nails,  and  throw  him  into  the  sea.  He  had  only  been 
saved  by  a  streletz  who  had  taken  his  place.  Some  asserted  that 
Peter  was  still  kept  there  ;  and  in  1705  the  streltsi,  and  raskol- 
iiiks  of  Astrakhan  still  gave  out  that  it  was  a  false  Tzar  who 
had  come  back  to  Moscow — the  true  Tzar  was  a  prisoner  at 
Siekoin,  attached  to  a  stake.* 

*  A.  Rambaud,  '  La  Russie  Epique,'  p.  303. 


304  HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 

In  the  midst  of  this  universal  disturbance,  caused  by  the  ao* 
sence  of  Peter,  there  were  certain  symptoms  peculiarly  disquiet- 
ing. The  Muscovite  army  grew  more  and  more  hostile  to  the 
new  order  of  things.  In  1694  Peter  had  discovered  a  fresh 
conspiracy,  having  for  its  object  the  deliverance  of  Sophia  ;  and 
at  the  very  moment  of  his  departure  from  Russia  he  had  to  put 
down  a  plot  of  streltsi  and  Cossacks,  headed  by  Colonel  Tsykler, 
Those  of  the  strdtsi  who  had  been  sent  to  form  the  garrison  of 
Azof  pined  for  their  wives,  their  children,  and  the  trades  they 
had  left  in  Moscow.  When  in  the  absence  of  the  Tzar  they  were 
sent  from  Azof  to  the  frontiers  of  Poland,  they  again  began  to 
murmur.  "  What  a  fate  is  ours  !  It  is  the  boyards  who  do  all 
the  mischief  ;  for  three  years  they  have  kept  us  from  our  homes." 
Two  hundred  deserted  and  returned  to  Moscow  ;  but  the  dojima. 
fearing  their  presence  in  the  already  troubled  capital,  expelled 
them  by  force.  They  brought  back  to  their  regiments  a  letter  of 
Sophia.  "  You  suffer,"  she  wrote  ;  "  later  it  will  become  worse. 
March  on  Moscow.  What  is  it  you  wait  for  ?  There  is  no  news 
of  the  Tzar."  It  was  repeated  through  the  army  that  the  Tzar 
had  died  in  foreign  lands,  and  that  the  boyards  wished  to 
put  his  son  Alexis  to  death.  It  was  necessary  to  march  on  Mos- 
cow and  exterminate  the  nobles.  The  military  sedition  was 
complicated  by  the  religious  fanaticism  of  the  raskolniks  and  the 
demagogic  passions  of  the  popular  army.  Four  regiments  revolt- 
ed and  deserted.  Generals  Schein  and  Gordon,  with  their  reg- 
ular troops,  hastened  after  them,  came  up  with  them  on  the 
banks  of  the  Iskra,  and  tried  to  persuade  them  to  return  to  their 
duty.  The  streltsi  replied  by  a  petition  setting  forth  all  their 
grievances  :  "  Many  of  them  had  died  during  the  expedition  to 
Azof,  suggested  by  Lefort,  a  German,  a  heretic  ;  they  had  endured 
fatiguing  marches  over  burning  plains,  their  only  food  being  bad 
meat ;  their  strength  had  been  exhausted  by  severe  tasks,  and 
thev  had  been  banished  to  distant  garrisons.  Moscow  was  now 
a  prey  to  all  sorts  of  horrors.  Foreigners  had  introduced  the 
custom  of  shaving  the  beard  and  smoking  tobacco.  It  was  said 
that  these  niantsi  meant  to  seize  the  town.  On  this  rumor, 
the  streltsi  had  arrived,  and  also  because  Romodanovski  wished 
to  disperse  and  put  them  to  the  sword  without  anyone  knowing 
why."  A  few  cannon-shots  were  sufficient  to  scatter  the  rebels. 
A  large  number  were  arrested  ;  torture,  the  gibbet,  and  the  dun- 
geon awaited  the  captives. 

When  Peter  hastened  home  from  Vienna,  he  decided  that 
his  generals  and  his  douma  had  been  too  lenient.  He  had  old 
grievances  against  the  streltsi  ;  they  had  been  the  army  of  Sophia, 
vn  opposition  to  the  army  of  the  Tzar ;  he  remembered  the  inva* 


HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USS/A.  3  05 

sion  of  the  Kremlin,  the  massacre  of  his  mother's  family,  her 
terrors  in  Troitsa,  and  the  conspiracies  which  all  but  delayed  his 
iournev  to  the  West.  At  the  very  time  that  he  was  travelling:  in 
luirope  for  the  benefit  of  his  people,  these  incorrigible  mutineers 
had  forced  him  to  renounce  his  dearest  projects,  and  had  stopped 
him  on  the  road  to  Venice.  He  resolved  to  take  advantage  of 
the  opportunity  by  crushing  his  enemies  en  masse,  and  by  mak- 
ing the  Old  Russia  feel  the  weight  of  a  terror  that  would  recall 
the  days  of  Ivan  IV.  The  long  beards  had  been  the  standard  of 
revolt — they  should  fall.  On  the  26th  of  August  he  ordered  all 
the  gentlemen  of  his  Court  to  shave  themselves,  and  himself  ap- 
plied the  razor  to  his  great  lords.  The  same  day  the  Red  Place 
was  covered  with  gibbets.  The  Patriarch  Adrian  tried  in  vain  to 
appease  the  anger  of  the  Tzar  by  presenting  to  him  the  wonder- 
working image  of  the  Mother  of  God  "  Why  hast  thou  brought 
out  the  holy  icon  .'"' exclaimed  the  Tzar.  "  Retire  and  restore 
it  to  its  place.  Know  that  I  venerate  God  and  His  Mother  as 
much  as  thyself,  but  know  also  that  it  is  my  duty  to  protect  the 
people  and  punish  the  rebels." 

On  the  30th  of  October  there  arrived  at  the  Red  Place  the 
first  instalment  of  230  prisoners  :  they  came  in  carts,  with  lighted 
torches  in  their  hands,  nearly  all  already  broken  by  torture,  and 
followed  by  their  wives  and  children,  who  ran  behind  chanting  a 
funeral  wail.  Their  sentence  was  read,  and  they  were  slain,  the 
Tzar  ordering  several  officers  to  help  the  executioner.  John 
George  Korb,  the  Austrian  agent,  who  as  an  eye-witness  has  left 
us  an  authentic  account  of  the  executions,  heard  that  five  rebel 
heads  had  been  sent  into  the  dust  by  blows  from  an  axe  wielded 
by  the  noblest  hand  in  Russia."  The  terrible  carpenter  of  Saar- 
dam  worked  and  obliged  his  bovards  to  work  at  this  horrible 
employment.  Seven  other  days  were  employed  in  this  way;  a 
thousand  victims  were  put  to  death.  Some  were  broken  on  the 
wheel,  and  others  died  bv  various  modes  of  torture.  The  removal 
of  the  corpses  was  forbidden  :  for  five  months  Moscow  had 
before  its  eyes  the  spectacle  of  the  dead  bodies  hanging  from  the 
battlements  of  the  Kremlin  and  the  other  ramparts;  and  for 
five  months  the  streltsi  suspended  to  the  bars  of  Sophia's  prison 
presented  her  the  petition  by  which  they  had  entreated  her  to 
reign.  Two  of  her  confidants  were  buried  alive  ;  she  herself,  with 
Eudoxia  Lapoukhine,  Peter's  wife,  who  had  been  repudiated  for 
her  obstinate  attachment  to  the  ancient  customs,  had  their  heads 
shaved  and  were  confined  in  monasteries.  After  the  revolt  of 
the  inhabitants  of  Astrakhan,  who  put  their  voTevode  to  death, 
the  old  militia  was  completely  abolished,  and  the  way  left  cleaf 
for  the  formation  of  new  troops. 


3o6 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


CONTEST  WITH    THE  COSSACKS  :  REVOLT  OF    THE   DON  (1706)  ; 

MAZEPPA  (1709). 

The  strelts i  ^?is  not  the  only  military  force  of  ancient  Russia 
whose  existence  and  privileges  had  become  incompatible  with 
the  organization  of  the  modern  State.  The  "  armies  "  (jio'/ska) 
of  Cossacks — those  republican  and  undisciplined  warriors  who 
had  been  formerly  the  rampart  of  Russia,  and  were  her  outposts 
against  the  barbarians — had  to  undergo  a  transformation.  The 
empire  had  numerous  grievances  against  them  :  the  Cossacks 
of  the  Ukraine  and  those  of  the  Don  had  given  birth  to  the  first 
and  the  second  of  the  false  Dmitris,  and  from  the  army  of  the 
Don  had  sprung  the  terrible  Stenko  Razine. 

In  1706  the  Cossacks  of  the  Don  revolted  against  the  Tzarian 
government,  because  they  were  forbidden  to  give  an  asylum  to 
the  peasants  who  fled  from  their  masters,  or  to  those  who  took 
refuge  from  taxation  in  the  camp.  The  ataman  Boulavine,  and 
his  lieutenants  Nekrassof,  Frolof,  and  Dranyi,  summoned  them 
to  arms.  They  murdered  Prince  George  Dolgorouki,  defeated 
the  Russians  on  the  Liskovata,  took  Tcherkask,  threatened  Azof, 
all  the  while  protesting  their  fidelity  to  the  Tzar,  and  accusing 
the  voievodes  of  having  acted  "  without  orders."  They  soon, 
however,  suffered  defeat  at  the  hands  of  Vassili  Dolgorouki, 
brother  of  the  dead  man.  Boulavine  was  stabbed  by  his  own 
soldiers,  and  Nekrassof  fled  with  two  thousand  men  to  the  Kuban. 
The  rebel  camp  was  laid  waste,  and  Dolgorouki  was  able  to 
write  :  "  The  chief  mutineers  and  declared  traitors  have  been 
hung  ;  of  the  others,  one  out  of  every  ten  ;  and  all  these  dead 
malefactors  have  been  laid  on  rafts  and  abandoned  to  the  river, 
to  strike  terror  into  the  hearts  of  the  Dontsi,  and  to  cause  them 
to  repent." 

Since  Samoilovitch  had  been  removed,  Mazeppa  had  been 
the  hetman  of  the  Little  Russian  Cossacks  of  the  Ukraine.  In 
his  youth  a  page  of  John  Casimir,  King  of  Poland,  that  adventure 
had  befallen  him  which  the  poem  of  Lord  Byron  and  the  pictures 
of  Horace  Vernet  have  rendered  famous.  Loosed  from  the  back 
of  the  unbroken  horse  which  had  carried  him  into  the  solitudes 
of  the  LTkraine,  he  had  entered  the  Cossack  army,  and,  by  be- 
traying all  chiefs  and  parties  in  turn,  he  had  risen  through  all 
the  grades  of  military  service.  He  owed  the  office  of  hetman 
to  Galitsyne  and  Sophia,  but  was  one  of  the  first  to  embrace  tiie 
cause  of  Peter.  His  elevation  gained  him  many  enemies,  but 
the  Tzar,  who  admired  his  intelligence  and  believed  in  his  fidel- 
ity, delivered  up  to  him  his  accusers.     He  executed  the  monk 


.UK.NtiilKuF. 


HISTORY  OF  RUSSIA. 


3°/ 


Salomon,  who  pretended  to  reveal  Mazeppa's  intrigues  with  the 
King  of  Poland  and  Sophia;  Mikhailof  in  1690,  and  the  diak 
Souzlof  in  1696,  were  likewise  put  to  death. 

All  this  time  the  Ukraine  was  being  steadily  undermined  by 
factions.  In  the  Cossack  army  there  always  existed  a  Russian 
party,  a  party  who  longed  for  Polish  government,  and  a  party 
who  wished  to  do  homage  to  the  Turks.  In  1693  Petrek,  one 
of  the  chiefs,  invaded  the  Ukraine  with  40,000  Tatars,  but  was 
forced  to  retreat.  Besides  this,  the  views  of  the  army  and  those 
of  the  sedentary  populations  of  the  Ukraine  were  always  at 
variance.  The  hetman  dreamed  of  becoming  independent,  the 
officers  disliked  being  responsible  to  anyone,  and  the  soldiers 
wished  to  live  at  the  expense  of  the  country,  without  either  work- 
ing or  paying  taxes,  after  the  manner  of  the  ancient  nobles  -, 
but  the  farmers  who  had  created  the  agricultural  prosperity  of 
the  country,  the  citizens  who  could  not  work  in  security,  in  fact 
all  the  peaceful  laboring  population,  determined  to  get  rid  of 
the  turbulent  military  oligarchy,  and  hailed  the  Tzar  of  Moscow 
as  a  liberator. 

Mazeppa  represented  the  military  element  of  the  Ukraine, 
and  was  hated  by  the  more  peaceful  classes.  The  Tzar  over- 
whelmed him  with  proofs  of  confidence,  but  Mazeppa  feared  the 
strenjrthenins:  of  the  Russian  State.  He  remembered  how  one 
dav  in  an  orgie  the  Tzar  had  seized  him  by  the  beard  and  vio- 
lently shaken  him.  The  taxes- imposed  on  the  vassal  State  of 
Little  Russia  became  daily  heavier,  and  in  the  war  with  Charles 
XII.  they  increased  still  more.  Everything  was  to  be  feared 
from  the  imperious  humor  and  autocratic  pretensions  of  Peter. 
The  invasion  of  the  Swedes,  now  imminent,  would  necessarily 
precipitate  the  crisis  ;  and  either  Little  Russia  would  gain  her  in- 
dependence by  the  help  of  the  foreigners,  or  their  defeat  on  her 
soil  would  give  a  mortal  blow  to  her  prosperity  and  hopes  for 
the  future.  Feeling  the  approach  of  the  hour  when  he  must 
obey  the  White  Tzar,  Mazeppa  allowed  himself  to  be  drawn  into 
conununications  with  Stanislas  Leszczinski,  the  King  of  Poland 
set  up  by  the  Swedish  party.  The  witty  Princess  Dol^kaia 
had  given  him  an  alphabet  in  cipher.  Up  to  that  time 
Mazeppa  had  delivered  to  the  Tzar  all  letters  tampering  with 
his  fidelity,  and,  in  return,  the  Tzar  surrendered  to  him  all  his 
accusers.  When  he  received  the  letters  of  the  princess  he 
smiled  and  said,  "  Wicked  woman,  she  wants  to  detach  me 
from  the  Tzar."  He  did  not  give  up  the  letter,  but  burned  it. 
When  the  hand  of  Menchikof's  sister  was  refused  to  one  of  his 
cousins,  when  Menchikof  himself  began  to  give  direct  orders  to 
Jhe  commanders  of  {heJ>olks,  when  the  Swedish  war  and  the  march 


3  o8  HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA. 

of  the  Muscovite  troops  limited  his  power  and  augmented  the 
burdens  of  his  territory,  when  the  Tzar  sent  pressing  injunctions 
for  the  equipment  of  the  army  in  European  style,  when  he  felt 
around  him  the  spirit  of  rebellion  against  Moscow,  he  wrote  to 
Leszczinski,  saying  that  he  did  not  think  the  Polish  army  sufficient- 
ly strong,  but  assuring  him  of  his  goodwill.  His  confidant,  Orlik, 
was  in  the  secret  of  all  his  intrigues.  Some  of  his  subordinates  who 
had  penetrated  his  designs  made  another  attempt  to  denounce  him 
to  the  Tzar  :  among  these  were  Palei,  celebrated  in  the  songs  of  the 
Ukraine  ;  Kotchoubey,  whose  daughter  Mazeppa  had  taken  ;  and 
Iskra.  The  information  was  very  exact  and  revealed  his  secret  con- 
ferences with  the  emissaries  of  the  King  and  of  Princess  Dolskaia 
It  failed,  like  former  denunciations,  through  the  blind  confidence 
of  Peter  :  Palei  was  sent  to  Siberia  ;  Iskra  and  Kotchoubey  were 
tortured,  forced  to  confess  themselves  false  witnesses,  delivered 
up  to  the  hetman,  and  beheaded.  Mazeppa  was  conscious  that 
such  extraordinary  good  fortune  could  not  last,  and  the  malcon- 
tents urged  him  to  think  of  their  common  safety.  At  this  moment 
Charles  XII.  arrived  in  the  neighborhood  of  Little  Russia. 
"  The  devil  has  brought  him,"  cried  Mazeppa ;  and  he  tried  be- 
tween the  two  powers  to  save  the  independence  of  his  little 
State,  without  delivering  himself  over  completely  either  to 
Charles  XII.  or  Peter  the  Great.  When  the  latter  invited  him 
to  join  the  army,  he  pretended  that  he  was  ill,  and  even  received 
extreme  unction.  But  Menchikof  and  Charles  were  approach- 
ing— a  choice  must  be  made.  Mazeppa  left  his  bed,  assembled 
his  most  faithful  Cossacks,  and  crossed  the  Desna  to  effect  a 
junction  with  the  Swedish  army.  Then  Peter  the  Great  made  a 
proclamation  denouncing  the  treason  of  Mazeppa,  his  alliance 
with  the  heretics,  his  plot  to  restore  the  Ukraine  to  Poland,  and 
to  fill  the  monasteries  and  temples  of  God  withUniates.  He  was 
cursed  in  all  the  churches  of  Russia.  Batourine,  his  capital,  was 
taken  by  Menchikof,  sacked  and  destroyed  ;  his  accomplices, whom 
he  had  abandoned,  died  on  the  wheel  and  the  gibbet ;  he  himself 
fled,  after  the  battle  of  Pultowa,  to  the  Turkish  territory,  and  per- 
ished miserably  at  Bender.  A  new  hetman,  Skoropadski,  was 
elected  in  his  stead  ;  the  mass  of  the  people  and  the  Cossack  army 
pronounced  loudly  for  theTzar,  and  the  Swedes  had  to  cope  with 
the  rising  of  the  entire  population  of  the  Ukraine.  In  spite  of 
this,  the  independence  of  Little  Russia  was  past.  The  privileges 
of  the  Cossacks  were  over,  and  twelve  hundred  of  them  were 
sent  to  work  at  the  Canal  of  Ladoga.  A  Muscovite  official  was 
joined  to  Skoropadski  to  govern  "  in  concert  with  the  advice  of 
the  hetman."  Muscovite  subjects  were  allowed  to  hold  lands  in 
the  Ukraine  by  the  same  titleas  the  Little  Russians  5  Menchikof 


CHARLES  XII. 


HIS  TOR  Y  OF  R  USSIA.  3  og 

and  Chafirof  were  given  large  domains  there  by  Skoropadski, 
whose  daughter  married  another  Muscovite,  Tolstoi',  created  com- 
mandant of  the  polk  of  Ni^jine.  In  1722  Little  Russia,  whose 
affairs  up  to  that  time  had  been  conducted  by  the  department  of 
Foreign  Affairs,  was  governed  by  a  special  office  founded  at 
Moscow  under  the  name  of  "  Little  Russian  Affairs."  This  was 
clear  proof  that  the  Ukraine  had  ceased  to  be  an  autonomous 
State.  When  Skoropadski  died,  Peter  did  not  nominate  a  suc- 
cessor, declaring  that  "  the  treasons  of  the  preceding  hetmans 
did  not  allow  a  decision  to  be  made  lightly  in  this  grave  matter 
of  election,  and  that  he  needed  time  to  find  a  man  of  assured 
fidelity." 

From  this  time  the  institutions  of  the  Ukraine  were  modified 
at  the  will  of  Peter  the  Great  and  his  successors.  The  hetman- 
nate  was  now  abolished,  now  restored,  till  the  last  man  who  held 
the  title,  a  courtier  of  Catherine  I L,  abdicated  in  1789.  The 
affairs  of  the  Ukraine  were  sometimes  directed  by  the  ofBce  of 
Little  Russia,  sometimes  by  the  office  of  Foreign  Affairs,  till 
the  time  when,  under  Catherine  II.,  it  became  an  integral  part 
of  the  empire.  As  to  the  Zaporogues,  after  their  se'tcha  had 
been  taken  by  Peter  the  Great,  they  emigrated  to  the  Crimea, 
obtained  their  restoration  to  the  Lower  Dnieper  from  Anne, 
found  the  neighboring  country  already  transformed,  and,  as 
their  existence  seemed  incompatible  with  security  and  coloni- 
zation, were  finally  expelled  in  1775. 

From  the  year  1709  we  may  say  that  there  no  longer  existed 
in  the  empire  a  single  military  force  that  could  oppose  its  privi- 
leges to  the  will  of  the  Tzar, 


IJC  SDIITHF  RN  RFGIONAL  I IRRAMY  FACILITY 

1 1 II 1 1  nil  mill 


AA    000  503  985    4 


